Box Score LAKELAND, FL–It took a couple goals by Ashton Hicks to pull away from the St. Thomas University Bobcats on Wednesday night, as the Fire were victorious 6-3. Hicks scored two goals in the contest; Pedro Ivo Dias, Jake Luff, Nick Wilson, and Victor Reyes scored a goal each as well.
The Fire (8-3-2, 2-2-2 TSC) scored the first three goals of the game. In the 12th minute, Reyes tapped the ball in from five yards out for an easy first goal. The second goal would only come a few minutes later in the 17th minute as the Fire capitalized on a Bobcats (1-12, 1-5 TSC) penalty in the box, resulting in a successful Fire PK from Ivo Dias. After four more minutes, Hicks scored his first goal of the contest after he split the last line of defense and dribbled past the goalie for an easy tap in.
In the 29th minute, Bobcats goalie Jack Hubbard drew a red card after he ran out of the penalty area to stop a Southeastern breakaway. A handball from the goalie outside the penalty area results in an automatic red card.
After the red card, St. Thomas was forced to play the rest of the match down a man. However, the Bobcats were able to score two goals anyway, one off of an impressive free kick from 35 yards out off the foot of Carlos Cruz, to cut the deficit to one at 3-2.
"I have the utmost respect for [St. Thomas]. They have a tremendous team; a lot of things haven't gone their way. Tonight it went our way a little bit. I expected them to be one of the best teams we play and even when they went down a man I didn't think anything would change and they proved that," said coach Clay Roberts.
The Fire added their fourth goal in the 61st minute, as Hicks drilled his second goal of the night. Nick Wilson and Jake Luff scored their first goals of the season in the 77th and 87th minute, respectively.
SEU moves up to sixth in the Sun Conference standings, with the victory. They take the field again on Saturday, as they host Florida Memorial at 6 p.m.
