Tars Advance to the SSC Tournament Final

Rollins

3 -

2

Tampa

Box Score

SAINT LEO, Fla. (November 6, 2015) - The third-seeded Tars won a hard fought battle in Friday evening's Sunshine State Conference Tournament Semifinal, defeating the second-seed Tampa, 3-2. With the win, Rollins earns a spot in the SSC Championship game on Sunday.

All-SSC performer, Tosan Popo, scored two goals for the Tars with junior Alexis Martinez tallying the other goal to seal the victory. Drew Trautmann and Julian Grundler shared time in goal and collected a total of two saves.

The Tars outshot the Spartans 20-15, and took seven corners compared to five for Tampa. Rollins dominated much of the first half, but Tampa's keeper, Christian Knight, came up big and made eight saves for the Spartans.

The teams would go into halftime tied 0-0. Tampa would strike first in the second half as Nikolai Hammer received a volley into the box and was able to head it in before colliding with Trautmann.

Rollins would respond 14 minutes later after Popo was taken down in the box and awarded a penalty kick. Popo would take the PK and capitalized on it, tying the match at 1-1.

Martinez would give the Tars the lead after a give and go from Popo in the 80^th minute, which saw the shot go past the outstretched Tampa keeper. Popo then extended the Rollins lead to 3-1 just 2 minutes later, taking a low cross from Brett Durrance and finishing into the left side of the goal.

The Spartans wouldn't give up that easily as Hammer scored his second of the night unassisted just minutes later. The Tars would hang on for the remainder of the game to secure the victory.

The Tars will play the winner of Friday's second semifinal between host and top-seeded Saint Leo and fourth-seeded Lynn. Kickoff on Sunday is set for 3:30 p.m. Fans can watch the SSC Championship game live on ESPN3.com.