LAKELAND, Fla.—In an emotional game that saw many chances for the Fire, only one was necessary to clinch the contest for Southeastern against Trinity Baptist.
After being honored before his final competition on Southeastern's soccer field, central defender
Caue Salgado was the beneficiary of a beautifully-worked free kick that gave the Fire a lead they wouldn't surrender.
Southeastern out-shot the Eagles for the entirety of the match and held a great majority of the possession, but were unable to capitalize on an opportunity until late on.
With only ten minutes remaining in a scoreless fixture,
Gustavo Rodrigues chipped a ball past Trinity Baptist's last defender on the counterattack. As Rodrigues ran onto his self-pass, he was taken down by the Eagle defender in gruesome fashion, earning the defender a red card and Southeastern a quality chance from 25 yards out.
Rodrigues quickly slid a ball to the left of the wall to
Adolfo Peraza, who was streaking toward the end line. Peraza cut a ball back across the face of goal that narrowly avoided the outstretched arm of the Eagle goalkeeper and found the foot of Salgado, who calmly slotted his shot into the side netting for his second goal in as many years as a member of Southeastern's soccer team.
Due to the defensive work from Salgado, the rest of the back line, and goalkeeper
Logan Whitney, Southeastern didn't need to convert on another offensive chance.
Whitney got the start in goal for the Fire and delivered with an impressive performance.
His biggest save of the night came in the 46
th minute with both teams still searching for the opening tally. As Trinity Baptist played a forward through the back line and in on a breakaway, Whitney stood tall and took a shot off of the chest to keep the game scoreless.
The sophomore keeper shut down Trinity Baptist's offensive attack with a career-high seven saves in his second clean sheet of the season.
The clutch 1-0 victory saw the Fire improve to 7-6-1 on the year.
Southeastern will look to solidify a spot in postseason play in their next matchup, the regular season finale in Ave Maria on Saturday at 1 p.m.
