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Spartans Set School Record as they Roll Past the Sailfish

  BOX SCORE TAMPA, Fla. – The second-ranked University of Tampa Spartans had their home opener of the 2021 season, as they welcomed the the Palm Beach Atlantic University Sailfish into Naimoli Stadium. The Spartans had a record-setting performance as they would score a program-record 29 goals in the win. INSIDE THE MATCHUP: Final: No. 2 Tampa 29, Palm Beach Atlantic 3 Records: Tampa (2-0, 1-0 SSC), Palm Beach Atlantic (0-2, 0-1 SSC) Location: Naimoli Field | Tampa, Fla. HOW IT HAPPENED: FIRST QUARTER UT pounced on PBA early on in the game as they would score the first goal 35 seconds into the game as Ben French found the back of the net off a Luke McAnaney pass. The onslaught would continue for Tampa as they would finish the quarter with 10 goals. Jack Wood had a strong first 15 minutes as he would account for six points, scoring two goals and dishing out six assists. || UT 10, PBA 1 SECOND QUARTER The Spartan offense would continue to roll in the second quarter as they would score another nine goals. UT was able to capitalize on PBA penalties, as they were able to score five man-up goals. Seven different Spartans would score in the second frame of the game. The Spartan defense was also stout as they would not allow any goals. || UT 19, PBA 1 THIRD QUARTER PBA was the first team to score in the second half, as Ben Justice would score off a Dylan Insolia pass at the 10:20 mark. Palm Beach Atlantic would score again with 4:09 left to play in the quarter. Following the Sailfish goal, the Spartans would reel off the next five goals to extend their lead. ||UT 23, PBA 3 FOURTH QUARTER Tampa’s defense would finish the game out strong as they would not allow a goal in the last 15 minutes of play. With 1:01 left to play in the game, Reece Riccardo scored the 29^th goal of the game, setting a new single-game high for the Spartans. || UT 29 PBA 3 INSIDE THE STATS

• Bryan Wright would lead the way for the offense, as he finished with five goals and two assists.
• Ben French would add four goals, while also serving out two assists.
• Jack Wood had a game-high four assists while adding on two goals.
• Wood would also add two caused turnovers
• Jake Mosher-McGraw and Wyatt Fruland would each record a hat trick with three goals apiece.
• Between the pipes, Blake Ulmer would earn his second victory of the season as he would finish the game with five saves.
• Alexander Starr would also have a strong performance as he would also record five saves.
• B.J. Borowski would finish the game between the pipes for Tampa, as he had three saves of his own while allowing no goals.
• In the faceoff-x, Ross Dickerson had another stellar performance as he would go 14-14, and scooped up 11 groundballs.
• Marc Whitaker was also perfect in faceoffs, as he won all seven attempts and picked up four groundballs.

  BEYOND THE BOX

• The 29 goals were the most in a single game, as the previous record was 28 against Emmanuel in 2005.
• Tampa also had 48 total points, which also sets a new school record.
• 14 different Spartans would find the back of the net.
• As a team, Tampa won 47 groundballs, while PBA won 15.
• UT would finish 7-10 in man-up opportunists.

  UP NEXT: The Spartans will be on the road in Lakeland, as they face SSC foe, Florida Southern, on Wednesday, March 31. The game is set to begin at 7:00 P.M. GAMEDAY MULTIMEDIA: Fans may watch all home games and Sunshine State Conference contests on TampaSpartans.tv. Live stats are also available through TampaStats.com. Follow UT Athletics: @TampaSpartans on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube. Text Alerts: UT also offers a free text messaging service that sends text alerts following all Spartan events. To sign up, please register at www.tampaspartans.com. Front Row: Download the official app of UT Athletics on the Apple or Android store. Look for the Tampa Spartans Front Row app to receive notifications from your favorite Spartan teams. The app is completely free.   ******************  

Sailfish Fall On the Road Against Spartans

  TAMPA, Fla. – The Palm Beach Atlantic men’s lacrosse team faced off with the Tampa Spartans in their second game of the season. The Spartans are likely to be PBA’s most difficult opponent they face this season as they entered the game ranked as the number two team in the country. The Spartans took control of the game early on and finished with a decisive 29-3 victory. The Sailfish fell behind 4-0 before Hunter Hopman got the Sailfish on the board at the 10:08 mark with his second goal of the young season. From there, the Spartans went on a scoring run that put the game away as they scored the next 15 goals in the game to lead 19-1 at the half. The Sailfish were outshot 40-10 in the opening half as they struggled to gain possession out of the face-off circle as the Spartans claimed the first 22 of the game. PBA’s Gunner Gebelein and Harrison Wood each led the ‘Fish in forced turnovers as PBA forced 18 Spartan turnovers while committing just 14. The Sailfish were able to score the first two goals of the second half as Ben Justice and Zach Holmes each found the back of the Spartans net. The Sailfish played all of their goalies in the game as they all combined to record 14 saves on the 43 Tampa shots on goal. Ben Justice led the Sailfish in ground balls with four while Gebelein and Logan Robbins chipped in with two each. The Sailfish will hope to get on track when they return for their home opener on March 31 against the Lynn Fighting Knights. The Sailfish opened the season by failing on the road to Lynn 19-5.