WINTER PARK, Fla. (October 18, 2023) - A wild finish gave Rollins their third straight win as they took down the Nova Southeastern Sharks by a score of 4-3 on Wednesday night in Winter Park. The win moves Rollins to 7-4-3 and 4-2-1 in the SSC. Nova Southeastern has lost three straight and falls to 8-3-1 (5-3-0 SSC).
The game was fairly slow-paced to start, with Rollins managing a couple of shots while Nova could not put anything together on offense. In the 19th minute,
Kayla Park was taken down in the box, leading to a penalty kick. The attempt was saved by Kirra Polley, but the ball came right back to Park who reloaded and scored her tenth goal of the year.
Nova nearly equalized in the 32nd minute, but Luana Grabias' shot bounced off the top of the goal post and out of play. Minutes later, with Rollins on the attack, Park was able to maneuver around the Shark defense and rip a shot at Polley, that was saved. This time, the ball bounced right to the feet of
Jessie Wade who tapped the ball across the line to put the Tars up 2-0.
The Sharks turned up the heat in the second half, putting three shots on goal in fifteen minutes, but
Lauren Mehos stopped each attempt. Unfortunately, on their fourth attempt, Dani Correa was able to work a header past the keeper to make it 2-1.
In the 75th minute, it was Park once again serving as the spark plug for the offense. After intercepting a Shark pass, she dribbled through a pair of defenders and fed Bri Drayton with an absolute dime, leading to another Tars goal give them a 3-1 advantage.
With less than seven minutes to go, Nova pulled within one on a set piece strike, and just three minutes later, scored on a penalty kick to tie the game at three.
Rollins was relentless as the clock ticked down. With 32 seconds to go, Tabea Schutt was given a yellow card right at the midfield line.
Hunter Myers took the free kick, launching a perfect ball all the way to the goal. Drayton was able to elevate and get a touch on the ball, putting it past Polley for the game winner.
The Tars put together an absolute onslaught in this one, firing 19 shots with 13 landing on target. They also had eight corners compared to Nova's one.
Next up for Rollins is a road match at Eckerd. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:00 pm in St. Petersburg.
