Tampa Rolls to 13-6 Victory over Rockhurst
TAMPA, Fla. – No. 2 Tampa Spartans left little doubt as they secured a dominant home victory against Rockhurst.
How It Happened
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Rockhurst struck first at the 13:35 mark of the opening quarter on an unassisted opportunity to give the Hawks an early 1-0 lead.
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Tampa responded with poise as Grant Green evened the score with an unassisted strike.
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Aaron Cho gave Tampa its first lead at 8:38, beating his defender and burying another unassisted goal.
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After a Rockhurst offside penalty, the Spartans capitalized on the man-up advantage. Eric Burbank converted off a feed from Justin Conly at 3:24 to extend the lead to 3-1.
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Green closed out the quarter with his second unassisted goal
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Friend scores for himself, with Ortega adding his third, a first-half hat trick.
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The second quarter slowed defensively, but Rockhurst trimmed the deficit to 4-2 at 7:58.
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Tampa's defense tightened from there, limiting the Hawks to just two shots in the quarter and carrying the two-goal cushion into halftime.
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Rockhurst came out aggressive in the third, cutting it to 4-3 just 21 seconds in on a man-up goal.
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The Spartans answered quickly as Cho struck to restore the two-goal lead.
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Rockhurst responded again less than 30 seconds later, but from that point forward, Tampa seized complete control.
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Zach Johnson sparked the surge with an unassisted goal and Mitch Cummings followed, pushing the lead to 7-4.
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Jackson Bashaw added another to extend the margin to four.
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Rex Kesselring converted off a Conly assist at 1:35, stretching the advantage to 9-4.
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With just four seconds left in the third quarter, Cho completed his hat trick with another unassisted tally, capping a six-goal Spartan period
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Tampa kept the pressure on early in the final frame. At 14:09, Bashaw finished a feed from Kesselring to make it 11-4.
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Johnson struck again off an assist from Tommy Ortega.
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Jacob Pages added an unassisted goal at 9:46 to give the Spartans their largest lead of the night, 13-4.
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Rockhurst added two late goals, but the outcome was firmly in Tampa's hands.
Spartan Performances
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Defensively, Tampa dominated the stat sheet with 34 ground balls and forced 24 Rockhurst turnovers
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Cho paced the offense with a hat trick, scoring three goals on seven shots
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Johnson, Bashaw, and Green each netted two goals.
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Four other Spartans scored once, including Cummings and Pages who each scored their first collegiate goal.
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In net, Westin Schmidt earned the win with Kyle Rolley adding two saves in relief and Charlie Villa preserving the victory for the Spartans in the final minutes.
Up Next: The Spartans return to Naimoli Family Athletic and Intramural Complex on Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. to host Concordia University Irvine.
