LAKELAND, Fla.—A rebound with just over seven minutes to go broke a one-all deadlock and held up to give No. 11 Southeastern a 2-1 win over No. 22 Georgia Gwinnett Wednesday night.
Sophomore
Eric Ugarte cleaned up a deflected shot by
Jake Van Der Luit, who won the ball off of a mis-hit goal kick with 7:06 left in the game. It was Ugarte's second goal of the season.
"The only thing that was going through my mind was put it away and go home with a W," said Ugarte. "It's not always about being a starter, it's about coming on and doing your job and when you're not in, you're doing your job on the bench supporting your guys."
Van Der Luit broke the ice in the 51
st minute of play with his 15
th goal of the year on a feed from
Craig Barker, who netted his 11
th assist of the year.
"This was a fantastic win for us," said coach
Clay Roberts. "The guys knew it was going to be a big battle and that we'd have to defend a lot of sequences and we knew we'd be able to create a lot."
However, less than three minutes later, Toni Tiente tied the match with his fifth goal of the season on a long shot.
The Fire offense kept GGC keeper Matija Gligorovic busy, seeing 22 total shots with 11 on goal, and forcing him to make nine saves. Despite being held off the scoreboard in the first half, the Fire had more quality chances, with six shots on goal and five corner kicks.
Southeastern returns to Sun Conference play on Saturday at Ave Maria at 1 p.m.
