Spartans Seniors Tame Lions On Senior Night

TAMPA, Fla. - The No. 6 ranked University of Tampa men's lacrosse team hosted the No. 20 Saint Leo Lions for senior night Friday night at the Naimoli Family Athletic Complex. The Spartans sent their six seniors out with a win knocking off the Lions 12-7.

Offensively, the Spartans turned in a shots on goal percentage of 44.4 as a team. Leading the scoring efforts were a trio of seniors in Jake Schmidt, Mike Morris, and Matt Bilak. Schmidt tallied four goals and dished out one assist and five points in the game. Morris found the back of the net three times and dished out an assist in the matchup. Rounding out the scoring efforts was midfielder Matt Bilak, who notched two goals and a team-high two assists. The three-headed monster of Schmidt, Morris, and Bilak accounted for 75 percent of the team's offense. Also providing firepower on the attack was Andrew Kew with two goals and junior Conor Whipple with one goal.

Defensively UT outhustled SLU winning the battle in ground balls 30 to 21 and forced six caused turnovers to the Lions two. Stepping up big for the Spartans on defense was freshman A.J. Ferraro, who lead the team in both categories with eight ground balls and two caused turnovers. Ferraro held Lion's Dylan Yonts, who ranks second in the nation in goals per game, to just one goal on the night. Senior defender Marty Heyn laid a tremendous bone-crushing hit on Saint Leo's Carter Dickson, which sparked a 3-0 run for Tampa to put the game out of reach and sealing the victory his side.

Tampa won the battle at the faceoff X as a team they converted on 15 of 23 faceoffs taken. Turning in an impressive performance was Sophomore Noah Menendez, who was 14-22 on faceoffs, as he battled Saint Leo's Will Cothron, who was ranked 9th in the country in faceoff winning percentage heading into the matchup. Menendez would also go on to scoop up four groundballs

Improving to 7-1 on the season, and picking up the victory in net for UT was goalkeeper A.J. Arnold. The junior netminder tallied 10 saves and posted 58.8 save percentage in the bout. The Southborough, Mass native held the Lion's offense that averages nearly 13 goals per game to a season-low of seven goals. 

The game capped off the final regular season home game for the careers of Tampa's Riley Piper, Ryan Vella, Marty Heyn, Matt bilak, and Mike Morris.

Following the victory the Spartans advance to 11-2, and 4-0 in Sunshine State Conference play, and improve to 5-1 against the Lions all-time. Saint Leo slides to 8-4 on the season and 1-3 in SSC play.

UT will return to action Friday, April 22 when they travel to Winter Park, Fla. to battle  SSC foe Rollins College. Game time is set for 7:30 P.M., Live stats, as well as a Video broadcast will be available for fans to follow the action via TampaSpartans.com

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