Matthews, N.C. – The Florida Tech men's soccer team went to overtime for a fourth consecutive game in the 2023 NCAA Tournament, only to have a cruel twist of fate derail their bid for a third national championship as they dropped Thursday night's national semifinal, 1-0.
 
INSIDE THE MATCHUP:
Final: #5 Florida Tech 0, #16 Colorado State-Pueblo 1
Records: Florida Tech (13-3-5 7-1-2 SSC) | Colorado State-Pueblo (18-4-3, 6-3-1 RMAC)
Locations:  Sportsplex at Matthews | Matthews, N.C.

STATS OF THE MATCH: 

• The Thunderwolves had the game's first chance two and a half minutes in through a Shjon Andrews header that was saved by a composed Iker Bastida.
• The Panthers first shot on target would come two minutes later through Ettore Casadei, only to be saved by Ryan Nun.
• CSU-Pueblo produced another opportunity a minute later courtesy of Jack Pascoe but Bastida was equal to the task.
• Tech's next opportunity would come in the 24^th minute with Casadei being denied by Nun once again. That would prove to be the final scoring chance for either team in the half as the Panthers and Thunderwolves each made runs into their opponent's half only to find almost no space in the penalty area.
• The Crimson and Gray's lone chance of the second half happened in the 52^nd, this time it was Jacopo Ghezzi's low shot that was saved by Nun.
• That would prove to be the only shot on target in the second half of this cagey affair, with the two teams combining for 12 shots in total.
• Florida Tech appeared to have the breakthrough in the 99^th minute when Hugo Catherine found the back of the net only for the goal to be ruled out due to offside.
• CSU-Pueblo found the decider with 107^th minute as Tomas Casas was adjudged to have brought down Noe Ortiz Pena in the area. Gabriel campora converted from the spot with a shot to his left that proved the difference.
• The Panthers were given one last opportunity with five seconds remaining but Joeran Osland's freekick deflected off the Thunderwolves wall and Osvaldo Santana could not put the rebound on target as time expired.
• Florida Tech outshot CSU-Pueblo 19-11 with both teams registering four shots on goal.
• Iker Bastida recorded three saves.

BEYOND THE BOXSCORE:

• The Panthers hold an 13-9-3 all-time record in the NCAA Tournament.
• Florida Tech is now 2-2-1 in national semifinals.
• This was the first ever meeting between the teams.
• This was Tech's first national semifinal since a 5-5 draw (lost 9-10 on penalties) to Seattle Pacific on December 2, 1993 at FIT Varsity Field.

This concludes the season for the Panther men. The team finished the year with a 13-3-5 overall record and a 7-1-2 SSC record.
 
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