WINTER PARK, Fla. – The 18
th-ranked Spring Hill College (SHC) men's soccer team earned a 2-1 non-conference victory over the Rollins College Tars at Barker Family Stadium at Cahall-Sandspur Field on Sunday afternoon.
Senior forward
Alex Lipinski of Krefeld, Germany, put the Badgers up 1-0 in just the 10
th minute of play with a successful penalty kick following a defensive foul within the keeper's box by Max Muecke of Rollins.
The Tars (0-2) would answer back before the intermission with a header off the bottom half of the crossbar that found the net late in the 25
th minute by Kevin Da Rocha Figueira via a perfectly placed entry pass by Michael Landau.
In the second half, freshman
Joao Amaral from Lisbon, Portugal, scored off a breakaway in the 79
th minute assisted by Lipinski just moments after Lipinski had taken an inadvertent foot to the face from a Rollins player.
Rollins refused to quit down the stretch, but the Badger defense met each challenge, including a shot off the crossbar with two minutes remaining and a series of corner kicks by the Tars in the final minute.
SHC head coach
Steve Wieczorek praised his team's effort following the contest. "It was a very good game today," he said. "It was tough and competitive and could have gone either way. I'm just happy that we were able to will it our way in the end."
SHC senior goalkeeper
Barou Ndaw out of St. Paul Episcopal School in Mobile, Ala., made one save against three shots with one corner kick by the Tars, but gave way to sophomore
Alessandro Erdelyi (1-1) of Turin, Italy, in the second half after suffering a lower back strain following a collision on the back line with three minutes left in the first period. Erdelyi would pick up the win with four saves versus nine shots and five corners. Maximillian Obermeier (0-2) of Rollins collected three saves versus 13 shots and seven corner attempts by the Badgers.
The Badgers (2-1) next host rivals the University of West Florida (UWF) Argonauts (3-0) in a non-conference match at Library Field on Saturday at 1 p.m.
