WINTER PARK, Fla. (September 21, 2022) - The Rollins Tars bounced back from a loss in their last game with a monster 4-0 win over Sunshine State Conference opponent Saint Leo. The Tars are now 6-1-1 on the year (2-1 SSC), while the Lions fall to 5-4-0 (0-3 SSC).
The first 44 minutes of the game featured a ton of physical play, a handful of yellow cards, and not a lot of offensive action. Rollins controlled possession for the majority of the half, opting to play a patient game and bid their time. With under a minute to play before the horn, a deflected ball ended up at the feet of
Georgios Koliniatis. After a couple of shot fakes to put his defender off balance, he ripped a right-footer between the legs of a Saint Leo player and bounced in a goal off the left post to give the Tars the halftime advantage.
A torrential downpour soaked the field at halftime, and then lightning delayed the game even further. When the weather was clear, the players returned to a soggy field. Rather than stay with their patient game plan, Rollins put their foot to the gas and attacked. In the 72nd minute,
Pedro Lameiras pressured the Lions as they looked to clear the ball. His pressure led to an errant pass, which was intercepted by Koliniatis. As the keeper went out to meet him, the Greek was able to chip the ball way up and over his head and into the net for his second goal of the game.
Seven minutes later,
Rian Barrett placed a beautiful through ball to a streaking Koliniatis on the right side. Without even thinking of shooting, he was able to cross it across the box to the cutter,
Nazar Tsaruk, who was able to finish the job with a groundball past the keeper to make it 3-0.
The final score came late, in the 86th minute. A lazy pass from a Lions defender back to their own goal was picked off by
Cole Cecconi, who leapt over the sliding keeper and gently tapped in the fourth goal of the game for the Tars.
Rollins dominated in every facet of the game. They fired 19 shots at the Saint Leo goal, with 12 counting as on target. In comparison, the Lions only managed four shots for the whole game, with three on goal, all of which were saved by
Maximillian Obermeier. Both teams were extremely aggressive in the midfield, with a total of nine yellow cards being handed out in this one.
Next up for the Tars is another home match. They will host the Palm Beach Atlantic Sailfish on Saturday, September 24 at Cahall-Sandspur Field. Kickoff is scheduled for 6:00 pm.
