DAYTONA, Fla. (September 17, 2025) - Men's soccer scored a nice road win on Wednesday evening, taking down the Embry-Riddle Eagles 2-0. With the win, the Tars improve to 3-1-1 on the season, while the Eagles fall to 1-4-0.
The game began with an odd sequence that included four offsides calls in the first six minutes of play, followed by a yellow card to Embry-Riddle in the eleventh minute. Eventually both teams found their pace, and played a solid, physical match for the next half hour.
With just under nine minutes to go in the first half, a throw in was headed for the Embry-Riddle box. After a header, the ball went directly into the hand of an Eagle defender, leading to a penalty kick opportunity.
Justin Nelson was called on by head coach
Keith Buckley, and delivered a nifty left-footed strike to put the Tars up 1-0.
The second half saw each keeper make a save in the first few minutes as the Eagles looked to get back in the game. In the 61st minute,
Nick Memmelaar found himself alone well outside the box, but with plenty of room to line up a beautiful cross. His kick sailed over almost everyone's head, but landed right in line with
Finlay Prain, who one-touched the ball back to Nelson who blasted home his second goal of the game.
Kilian Vallant picked up three more saves in goal before the final horn to preserve the 2-0 win for Rollins.
Embry-Riddle triple up Rollins on shot attempts, 15-5, but all five of the Tars efforts were counted as on target, while the Eagles inly had six on goal. Vallant set a season-high with six saves in the match.
Despite playing a SSC opponent, the game does not count towards the conference standings. The official SSC match will take place on October 26 in Winter Park.
Next up for Rollins is the SSC opener at Florida Tech on Wednesday, September 24. Kickoff is scheduled for 6:00 pm from Melbourne.
