WINTER PARK, Fla. (October 18, 2025) - Ninety minutes of hustle, a rowdy crowd, and an epic comeback led to the defeat of the reigning national champion and top-ranked Lynn Fighting Knights on Saturday as Rollins claimed a 4-3 victory. The win moves the Tars to 6-3-3 on the year and 3-2-2 in the SSC. The Knights suffer their first loss in 32 matches, and fall to 9-1-1, 5-1-1 SSC.
While the box score doesn't show much in the first 26 minutes of action, the play on the field was playoff-like as the two teams battled. Things were getting feisty on defense as Rollins was hit with two yellow cards within a minute of each other, with the second one leading to a penalty kick. On the attempt, Killian Vallant made a monster save on Luan Barroso, keeping the game scoreless.
Riding the momentum, the Tars found the scoreboard just fifty seconds later.
Pablo Herrero attacked the defense, but decided to dribble out. He sent a short pass to
Jordan Proulx, who simply bent a left-footed strike from about 20 yards out. The ball befuddled Matthew Preiss, who could not squeeze the shot and saw it roll in.
Lynn came out of the second half on the attack, and relentlessly barraged Vallant with shots, with Dominik N'Gatie eventually working one past to tie the game. The Knights added a second goal in the 68th minute on a blast from Fabian Vyhnalek.
Feeling the pressure against the best defensive team in the country, Rollins rallied behind a couple of sparks from the bench.
Tolu Junaid led the charge with a nifty header pass to
Tim Arnhold, who went top left on Preiss to tie the game in the 69th minute.
Just three minutes later, the two teammates connected again for the same result. Junaid collected a long ball, and worked around the defense before dishing to Arnhold. The German pump faked three times before finding the hole he needed to score his second of the match.
In defense mode, the Tars found one more attack, this time from
Diego Barcelos. It all started with
Justin Nelson, who drew, and evaded, a handful of Knight defenders before leading Barcelos with a perfect pass. As Preiss crashed towards the attacker, Barcelos poked the ball to his left and watched it dribble in to make it 4-2.
Lynn did make things interesting with a third goal in the 89th minute, but the defense was stout in the final 100 seconds and held on for the upset.
Lynn outshot the Tars 17-15, including 10-6 on target. Vallant was credited with seven saves in the win. A total of seven yellow cards were handed out in the match.
This is the first loss for the Knights since November 18, 2023, a span of 32 unbeaten games. The game also marks the most goals allowed in a game (4) since October 21, 2015 against ... Rollins.
Next up for the Tars is a non-SSC match against #14 Florida Tech on Wednesday, October 22. Kickoff is scheduled for 6:00pm. The two teams matched up earlier this year on September 24, with the Panthers earning a 2-0 win.
