LAKELAND, Fla. - In a grueling match, the Fire men's soccer team battled against the St. Thomas Bobcats. The men fought long and hard but, when the clock clicked zero, the Bobcats came out on top. Consequently, Southeastern fell just short of St. Thomas by a score of 1-0.
The Bobcats jumped out to an early lead in the 13th minute of the game after New Castle, England native Kris Wilkinson curled his shot into the upper 90 from 25 yards out. Southeastern's Camilo Mejia executed an outstanding attempt at the equalizer when he unleashed a missile, but Bobcat's goalkeeper, Connor Christie, of Wales, was able to get a hand on the ball and deflect it off the crossbar. Throughout the first half, St. Thomas applied a great deal of pressure on the Fire defense, outshooting Southeastern 6-3.
When the second 45 minutes began, the Fire possessed newfound energy and created a few scoring chances; however, they were unable to find the back of the net. A red card was issued to Bobcats Danny Martinez, of Caracas, Venezuela, leading to a 10-minute-man advantage for the Fire. In a flurry towards the end of the game, Southeastern once again had a tremendous opportunity to tie the match when Jake Van Der Luit connected with a shot that deflected off the crossbar, keeping the Fire from scoring.
Altogether, the match between the two teams proved to be an extremely physical one, with a total of 24 fouls, six yellow cards, and one red card handed out by the center referee.
The Fire will take to their home pitch again on Saturday, October 29th, at 7:30 p.m. when they play Florida Memorial University.
