TAMPA, Fla. (Men's Soccer) - The Florida Tech men's soccer team dropped its match against Sunshine State Conference rival Tampa, 3-2, on Saturday evening at Pepin Stadium.
The Panthers move to 9-3 and 6-2 in the SSC with the loss, while the Spartans improve to 6-3-2 overall and 5-2-2 in conference play.
FIT finished with an advantage in shots, 16-8, shots on goal, 7-6, and corner kicks, 6-2, in the contest.
Christopher Page fell to 7-3 overall, while making three saves in the Panthers' net.
Felipe Desousa opened the scoring early in the matchup, as he accepted a pass from Bay Downing and scored to give UT a 1-0 advantage in the eighth minute.
Viktor Strand doubled the Spartans' lead in the 33rd minute when he scored past Page to make it 2-0.
Florida Tech finally got onto the board in the 60th minute when
Solomon Wheatley received a pass from
Jan Hlavica and scored past Tampa's Jake Richards.
Josh Thomas then tallied the equalizer in the 78th minute off a pass from
Brandon Smalley.
It looked as though the teams would continue their battle in overtime but Desousas struck again for the Spartans, firing one past Page in the 89th minute for the game-winner.
Florida Tech returns to the pitch on Tuesday, Oct. 24, to square off with another SSC rival in Rollins College. Kickoff between the Panthers and Tars is set for 7 p.m. ET.
