LAKELAND, Fla- After defeating SCAD-Savannah last week in the Sun Conference Tournament quarterfinals by a score of 3-0, the Southeastern University men's soccer team (11-4-3, 5-2-1 SUN) will now face off against St. Thomas University in the semifinal contest on Tuesday at 1 p.m. in Miami Gardens.
Against the Bees, the Fire got goals from
Lucas Nishioka on a penalty kick as well as
Edoardo Venutolo and
Marcello Cruz to secure their spot in the semifinals.
Sitting at third in the conference, the Fire average 3.06 goals per contest and have netted 55 total and allowed only 23. The offense has also managed an average of 18.8 shots per contest and a .456 shot on goal percentage. Venutolo has led the Fire offense all season as he holds 12 goals and four assists for a total of 28 points.
Gianluca Contegno and Nishioka each have collected 16 points with Contegno registering seven goals and two assists and Nishioka recording five goals and six assists. The Fire defense has completed nine shutouts on the season with
Carlos Curado and
Jonathan Wojciki contributing heavily in goal. Through nine starts, Curado has posted a 6-1-2 record and 25 saves on 31 shots faced. Wojcicki holds a current record of 5-3-1 with 19 saves on 28 shots faced.
The No. 5 Bobcats (9-0-4, 6-0-2 SUN) begin the tournament as the second-place team and are coming off a 0-0 tie of No. 19 Florida National. Defensively, the Bobcats have completed 10 shutouts in 13 contests, allowing only four goals all season, one of which came from the Fire in the 1-1 tie on October 8
th. Franco Acerbi has accumulated an .889 save percentage through 13 contests, making 32 saves on 37 shots faced. The offense currently averages 3.08 goals per game and 15.9 shots per game. Guido Cacciabue and Fernando Arzeno are the Bobcats' current co-leaders in goals with eight while Facundo Cisterna has assisted on eight goals and completed four others.
With a win against the Bobcats, the Fire would advance to the Sun Conference Championship on Friday.
