Tampa Falls to #2 Nova Southeastern

FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla. - The second-ranked Sharks of Nova Southeastern (9-1-1, 3-1-1) proved to be too much for the University of Tampa Spartans (6-4, 2-2), defeating Tampa 4-1 on Saturday night.

Nova opened the scoring in the 14th minute after Roman Onteniente accepted a pass from Chris Sarabia, and put it neatly past the Tampa keeper to give the Sharks an early 1-0 lead. Aly Hassan added to the Nova lead in the 21st minute, blasting a shot into the net from the top of the penalty area to extend the margin to 2-0.

Craig Heenighan found the back of the net in the 55th minute after a perfect through ball from Onteniente to put the Sharks up 3-0. Clevon George scored the lone goal for the Spartans in the 64th minute off a pass from Dan Ingvarsson, ending the Sharks' shutout hopes and cutting Nova's lead to 3-1. Onteniente added a late goal to give Nova its final margin of victory at 4-1.

With his second half score, George moved into the team lead in goals scored with his fifth of the season. Kevin St. John made two saves in his 10th start of the season against eight shots by the Sharks. The Spartans were able to put 10 of their 14 shots on frame in the loss to the second-ranked Sharks.

Tampa returns to the pitch on Wednesday as they host Saint Leo in a Sunshine State Conference matchup. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 pm.