The national spotlight shines on Barker Family Stadium and
Cahall Sandspur field tonight at unbeaten and ninth ranked Rollins
hosts unbeaten and second ranked Tampa in a battle with huge
Sunshine State Conference implications. The winner will be in the
driver's seat for the SSC regular season title as well as the race
for the top seed and hosting honors in the NCAA South Region
Tournament.
This season has been magical for the Tars as they have gotten off
to their best start in school history. Rollins has won 11 straight,
breaking the old mark of seven set in 1993. Rollins also is three
wins away from breaking the highest single-season win total of 15
in 1994. Rollins has secured victories against four
nationally-ranked teams in Division II.
After starting the season unranked the Tars have climbed all the
way to No.9 in this week's poll. The highest ranking in program was
No.6 in 1995.
The offense has been firing on all cylinders as the Tars have
netted 42 goals through 14 games. The backline and goalkeeping has
also been up to the task, only allowing 11 goals thus far. Senior
captain J.D. Gruenewald leads the team with 25 points (8 G 9 A),
followed by Adam New with 15 points (4 G 7 A) and Jacob Deloach (3
G 9 A) 15 points each.
The Tars are second in the conference in terms of goals scored with
41 and goals per game with 3.10.
Tars goalkeeper Aaron Rokeach has posted six shutouts and an
outstanding 0.82 GAA, which ranks third in the conference behind
Alessandro Salvatore of Lynn and Ryan Thompson of Tampa.
Since 2003, Rollins has posted a staggering home record of 52-11-3
at Cahall Sandspur field.
Tampa Spartans
The Spartans remain undefeated in conference play as they took down
the Eckerd College Tritons 4-1, Tuesday night. Dan Ingvarsson led
the way for the Spartans tallying two goals to help secure the
victory against the Spartans. Ingvarsson comes in second in points
for Tampa with 12 (3 G 6A) behind Pascal Milien's 18 (8 G 2 A).
Goalkeeper Ryan Thompson has given up eight goals this season and
holds a 0.77 GAA, which is second best in the conference behind
Salvatore from Lynn. As a team the Spartans have scored 21 goals on
the season for an average of 2.10 goals per game.
Next for the Tars...
After tonight Rollins will take a break from conference play as
they will host Florida Memorial, Oct. 20 at 7 p.m.
