Spartans looking for leadership from Swan, Griffin

TAMPA – With eight starters departed from last fall’s side, the University of Tampa men's program may be a team in transition during spring practice, which began last week, and this upcoming fall.

If central midfielders Karl Swan and Ryan Griffin have anything to do about it, though, the Spartans will be back to make another run at a Top-5 finish and a national title.

Two of the three returning starters, Lister Warren being the third, Swan and Griffin have run the center of the Spartans midfield since being moved there during their freshman seasons in a game against Rollins College.

“Ryan Maxwell got red-carded, we were tied 0-0 in the game, he gets red-carded with about five minutes to go in the (first) half, we had to play down a man,” Spartans coach Adrian Bush said. “We popped Ryan and Karl in there, played with three in the middle, and from that day forward they haven’t left the position.”

A big reason for that is how well both players game’s fit together. Griffin is the bigger of the two, listed at 6-foot-3 and 190 pounds, and is constantly in the thick of the game, winning possession in the air and on the ground when opponents have the ball. Swan, at 5-10, 155 pounds, is the distributor, directing play as he uses his passing ability to switch the point of attack and move the team forward.

Both Swan and Griffin played together for RSL Florida prior to becoming Spartans, winning three state championships in five seasons with the club. Swan thinks that while it might have taken longer for the two to jell had they not played prior to UT, the fact that they had was beneficial to the Spartans program.

“With both our strengths, it would have taken a little bit longer,” Swan said. “I think it would have taken a year, maybe even two years to put both our strengths together. It was a great plus we had RSL and played four or five years together.”

That success at the club level, and in their first two season as Spartans has both players believing the side will be as strong in the past two seasons, with Griffin looking forward to taking a more active leadership role on the team.

“We’ve obviously got to take the reins now,” Griffin said. “The team is looking to us now, it’s our time. I’ve always been a very vocal person on my team, as I have for the past two years, but now the words mean a lot more, make sure you compliment the young guys coming in, make sure they can assimilate themselves well into the program.

“I’m not going to change anything personally, still working out the same, but definitely vocally I've got to be the voice of the team.”

And that is exactly what Bush wants both players to be.

“The leadership part, stepping up and being more vocal as a leader is something we’re going to expect of them,” Bush said. “These guys have played at a very good level and are accustomed to winning, and I think just feeding that type of mentality and that type of work ethic to everyone on the team, and especially the new guys coming in, is going to be the most important thing we can get from those guys.

“They’re team guys. They’re about the team, will play any position that you ask and are just about getting results, that’s all they care about.”

Colleges: Milien goal edges No.9 Spartans past Panthers

Pascal Milien scored his 10th goal of the season, and Ryan Thompson made a pair of crucial late saves as No.9 Tampa defeated Florida Tech 1-0 to move into a tie with Rollins for first place in the Sunshine State Conference.

With the game deadlocked entering the second half, the Spartans had a strong spell of pressure in the first 10 minutes after the break, Brian Fekete and Ryan Griffin both forcing saves from Florida Tech goalkeeper Derrick Hackett. The game continued to flow back and forth until the 79th minute when Lister Warren found Milien on the left side, and he fired his shot into the left side of the net to the Spartans the lead.

The Panthers tried to rally, Naru Wild-Putsorn shooting over the bar and Nicolas Garcia having his shot blocked before their best chance came in the 88th minute. Peter Mindley had his shot saved by Thompson, who then recovered in time to stop David Tufft’s chance on the rebound.

According to Spartans coach Adrian Bush, Thompson was a game-time decision before kickoff, but his six saves earned the senior his third shutout of the season.

"The difference-maker today was Ryan Thompson," Bush said. "To come into today as a game time decision and for him to deliver that type of performance is nothing short of amazing."

The Spartans face their final non-conference game of the season against Johnson and Wales on Monday before closing the regular season against rival Saint Leo on Thursday night. The Spartans could have a chance to win the SSC regular season title after Rollins lost its first game of the season 2-0 to Barry on Saturday night, leaving both sides with 18 points in the standings with one game to play.

Colleges: No.2 Tampa gets tested, but pulls away from Eckerd

ST. PETERSBURG – With a pivotal game coming up on Friday for the University of Tampa, it could have been easy for the No.2-ranked Spartans to overlook their game on Tuesday night against an Eckerd team that had lost its previous two conference games.

The Tritons, though, gave the Spartans a tough test for the first 45 minutes before a pair of goals and a sending off in the second half allowed Tampa to earn a 4-1 victory at the Turley Athletic Complex.

“We’ve really focused on taking each game and breaking each game down,” Spartans coach Adrian Bush said. “To look ahead to Friday would have been very easy to do, and I think they came in with the right mentality and focus to get the job done tonight.

“I’m happy for our players because I know how hard they’ve worked to get the result that they got, because it could have been an easy let-down. But with this group, there are no let-downs. They’ve taken it in stride, they’ve beaten some very good teams, and it’s last game, next game for us. That’s all we really focus on.”

Tampa (10-0-1, 4-0-0 SSC) took the lead with a well-worked goal in the seventh minute, a long ball finding Pascal Milien on the right 30 yards from goal. Milien cut inside, and passed to Lister Warren at the top of the penalty area, who flicked the ball on to Ryan Griffin. With the defense pulled out of position, Griffin played the ball to Dominic Goncalves, who was overlapping down the left, and he shot into the net.

Eckerd (5-7-0, 3-3-0) bounced back quickly, and Spartans goalkeeper Ryan Thompson had to be sharp to make a pair of excellent saves, tipping a curling shot over the bar from Anthony Arico and palming a shot wide from Colin Kuhn.

Off the corner following Kuhn’s effort, the Tritons found an equalizer, Kuhn’s corner kick from the right going to the far post, where it was headed back across goal by Alex Patterson for Arico to volley home from eight yards out in the 18th minute.

The Tritons time on even terms was short-lived, though, as Dan Ingvarsson’s free kick from about 45 yards out found Ryan Griffin, who flicked his header into the left corner of the net six minutes later.

Both sides had chances to add to the scoring before halftime, Dan Sheekey and Arico being denied by Thompson, and Warren hitting the crossbar for the Spartans, but it wasn’t until the second half that Tampa began to pull away.

After Milien had picked up the ball in his own half, he beat a pair of Tritons and took off down he left flank, going about 50 yards before being brought down 25 yards from goal on the left side of the penalty area. Ingvarsson stepped up and curled a beautiful free kick over the defensive wall and into the left corner of the net, putting the Spartans up 3-1 in the 51st minute.

“It was nice,” Ingvarsson said. “I was lucky last year with a few, and it’s just so great to score my first free kick goal of the season.”

Ingvarsson also scored the Spartans’ fourth after Tampa was awarded a penalty when Mike Bethel’s shot was blocked by a defender’s hand in the penalty area. Eckerd goalkeeper Domenic Spedaliere did well to save Ingvarsson’s initial shot, diving to his right to save, but Ingvarsson followed up to score on the rebound.

Nine minutes later, the Tritons were reduced to 10 men after Sheekey was shown his second yellow card of the game for a poor challenge on Brian Fekete. While the Tritons had chances to score, with a man-advantage Tampa was able to control possession for the bulk of the remainder of the game.

Eckerd coach Jeremy Wisdo thought the difference in the game was finishing.

“We felt we had a couple of chances early on that we squandered early on,” Wisdo said. “Maybe in the first three corners we had two really good chances either we didn’t get on target or their goalie made a good save on.

“I thought our service was excellent from our corners, and from most of our set pieces, and we got on the end of a lot, but we couldn’t find the back of the net.”

The Spartans now travel to face No.9 Rollins on Friday night with the winner holding the inside track to the SSC regular season title. Bush said he has a great deal of respect for the Tars, who are 13-0-1 overall and 5-0-0 in the SSC after a 1-0 victory against Lynn on Tuesday night.


“Another top-10 match-up between two very solid teams,” Bush said. “I think their No.9 ranking is not justified, I definitely think they are a Top-5 team in the country, and we look forward to a great contest.”

Colleges; Griffin, Milien lead Spartans rally past No.1 Lynn

Pascal Milien scored the game-winning goal after teammate Ryan Griffin had forced overtime with just over two minutes to play in regulation as No.4 Tampa came back to defeat No.1 Lynn 2-1 at Pepin-Rood Stadium on Saturday in the latest installment of what has been an enthralling rivalry.

Lynn forward Paolo Vaz was shown a straight red card for a dangerous challenge on Spartans center back Dan Ingvarsson in the 38th minute. The Fighting Knights (10-1-0, 2-1-0 Sunshine State Conference) persisted despite being down a man, and took the lead in the 79th minute when Scott Gordon drove a free kick into the top left corner of the Spartans’ net.

Falling behind saw the Spartans (6-0-1, 2-0-0 SSC) play with even greater urgency, and they were rewarded in the 87th minute after a long ball by Ingvarsson into the penalty area found Griffin, who fired home.

The goal was a fitting reward for Griffin’s work in the center of midfield for the Spartans.

“I hope people are taking notice of what he does game in and game out,” Spartans coach Adrian Bush said. “He’s not the guy with all the flash, but he’s a rock in the middle along with Karl Swan.”

Milien then gave the Spartans victory, beating Lynn goalkeeper Alessandro Dalvatore to a through ball by Greg O’Connor to fire home the winner, and send the Spartans bench into celebration.

Bush said while defeating Lynn was a big achievement for his squad, he expected to see the Fighting Knights again later in the season. The Spartans and Fighting Knights have played in the regular season, Sunshine State Conference Tournament and NCAA Division II Tournament for the past two seasons.

“It’s a big win for the program” Bush said. “I’m happy for the university, for our fans, and for our players, but we understand that this does not make out season. We’re now getting ready for Palm Beach Atlantic on Tuesday.”

Colleges: Spartans O'Connor ready for first start

TAMPA – It’s a long way from Wellington, New Zealand to Tampa.

A little over 8,000 miles, in fact.

After coming that distance to play for the University of Tampa men’s soccer team, forward Greg O’Connor has come a long way in the two months he’s been with the team, and will make his first start for the Spartans on Saturday as they open their Sunshine State Conference schedule against Barry.

“I’m really excited about it,” O’Connor said. “Making a big move from New Zealand, it’s been a big change for me and it’s been good so far. Things have been great and I’m looking forward to starting this game.”

O’Connor has been bringing energy to the Spartans attack in the past two games, but it did take him time to get adjusted to the Florida climate. The temperature in New Zealand rarely gets above 80 degrees in the summer, so joining the Spartans at the height of summer left was a major difference.

“It’s taken him a little time to get adjusted,” Spartans coach Adrian Bush said. “He’s had to adapt to the heat, but I think he’s adjusted very well. I give him a lot of credit, because he’s a long, long way from home, and he’s doing very well.”

Weather aside, though, Bush said O’Connor has fit right in with his new teammates.

“He’s a very likable buy, great personalty, great spirit, maturity level is very good,” Bush said. “You can tell he comes from not just a good family but a good soccer background. He gets it, he understands the importance of working hard.”

SLIGHT DROP: Tampa dropped to No.5 in the National Soccer Coaches Association of America Division II poll this week after a 1-1 draw against West Florida. Bush said while the performance against the Argonauts was disappointing, he was happy that the side had pulled out a tie, and had appeared to learn a valuable lesson from the game.

“I definitely think we’ve had a great week thus far in training,” Bush said. “I think the attitude is right. You know, it’s one thing to play poorly, we give West Florida all the credit in the world, but we didn’t play well, but the main thing, and I think the maturity of our team, is to understand why we didn’t play well. And it wasn’t about breaking down film or anything, it was workrate, and I think it was a big lesson for them. Thank god it didn’t cost us a loss, but I think it was a wake-up call for them, and we make look back from now and say that was a turning point in our season.”

Midfielder Ryan Griffin said he thinks the reduced pressure of not being ranked No.1 will allow the team to loosen up as it nears the midway point of its season.

“When you’re No.1 in the nation, everyone wants to kill you,” Griffin said. “Now we’re No.5, there’s a little more breathing room, and we can look forward to conference play that starts this weekend.”

CONFERENCE CALL: Barry finished with a 3-4-1 record in SSC play last season, and currently hold a 4-3-1 record entering Saturday night’s game. That doesn’t mean Bush is taking the Buccaneers, or any other SSC opponent, lightly.

“This is what it’s all about,” Bush said. “One of our main goals was to win the conference, and now it’s one game at a time. There’s no easy games, we know that, and we have a lot of respect for all the teams in this conference, but you’ve got to get result, and the eight-game gauntlet starts Saturday.”

Griffin said that while the Spartans had been tested by the games they had faced so far, they were now hitting the critical point of their season.

“The NAIA teams we played were all solid teams, but those games don’t count,” Griffin said. “If you don’t win your conference, or do well in your conference, you’re not going to have a chance to play in the NCAA tournament, so these are the real games. We have eight of them, and we’re looking to win all of them.”