College Matchday: No.10 Tampa at No.5 Rollins

WHEN: Sunday, 1 p.m., Cahall-Sandspur Field

NEED TO KNOW: Tampa will try to earn a little revenge on the only team to defeat it in the regular season as it tries to advance to the NCAA Division II Tournament South Region final against Rollins.

Rollins won the first meeting 3-2, the Tars jumping out to a 3-0 lead before the Spartans rally through goals by Dan Ingvarsson and Greg O’Connor fell short. The Tars subsequently lost twice, both to Barry, but earned their revenge for those defeats with a 1-0 win against the Buccaneers in Friday’s 1-0 overtime victory, Daniel Salazar scoring the only goal with just over three minutes to play before the game went to a shootout.

Tampa will look to make a far better start than they did in their first game against the Tars, as they were able to in their 3-1 win against Lynn on Friday. Pascal Milien gave the Spartans an eighth-minute lead against the Fighting Knights, and while Lynn tied the game 11 minutes later, Jordan Moses soon restored the lead before Chris O’Brien added a late insurance goal.

The winner of Sunday’s game will face the winner of Lees-McRae and Anderson (S.C.), who also play Sunday at 2 p.m.

Colleges: Spartans move into South Region semifinals

Pascal Milien and Jordan Moses scored first-half goals as the University of Tampa moved into the South Regional semifinal of the NCAA Division II Men's Tournament with a 3-1 victory against Lynn.

“Very pleased,” Spartans coach Adrian Bush said. “It’s just a step further, a step closer to our goal. Sunday isn’t going to be an easy game by any means, but I’m very happy.”

Milien gave the Spartans the lead in the eighth minute, but the Fighting Knights hit back 11 minutes later as Paolo Vaz made the score 1-1. Moses restored the Spartans’ lead in the 29th minute, turning the ball home after Dan Ingvarsson had hit the crossbar and Lister Warren had a pair of shots blocked.

“It was a fantastic rebound,” Bush said. “There was probably thre or four that were initially blocked, and Jordan got in under control and just buried it. A great goal from him, and he’s a guy who started off injured, and he’s really starting to come into his own now. I’m really happy for him for what he did, he was outstanding tonight.”

The Spartans controlled good portions of the game, and that led to some frustrations for Lynn, which had six players shown yellow cards during the game. Bush said he thought the key to the game was the Spartans’ preparation that allowed them to make the correct adjustment to anything the Fighting Knights threw at them.

“They really went out an executed perfectly,” Bush said. “We talked about three or four different scenarios, if Lynn did this, how would we counter, and we were ready for anything they threw at us, and I think that was the difference in the game.”

Milien went close to extending the Spartans lead in the 64th minute as his fierce left-footed shot from just outside the penalty area came back off the post after he had cut in from the right side, but Tampa put the game away in the final minute as Chris O’Brien scored off a rebound of Milien’s initial shot.

The end of their season caused emotions to spill over for Lynn’s players, of whom two, Gabe Taboada and Christian Donert, were shown red cards after the game ended.

The Spartans will now face host Rollins on Sunday at 1 p.m. after the Tars defeated Barry 1-0 in overtime in the second game of the evening.