Tampa Rolls to 13-6 Victory over Rockhurst

TAMPA, Fla. – No. 2 Tampa Spartans left little doubt as they secured a dominant home victory against Rockhurst.

How It Happened

• Rockhurst struck first at the 13:35 mark of the opening quarter on an unassisted opportunity to give the Hawks an early 1-0 lead.

• Tampa responded with poise as Grant Green evened the score with an unassisted strike.

• Aaron Cho gave Tampa its first lead at 8:38, beating his defender and burying another unassisted goal.

• After a Rockhurst offside penalty, the Spartans capitalized on the man-up advantage. Eric Burbank converted off a feed from Justin Conly at 3:24 to extend the lead to 3-1.

• Green closed out the quarter with his second unassisted goal

• Friend scores for himself, with Ortega adding his third, a first-half hat trick.

• The second quarter slowed defensively, but Rockhurst trimmed the deficit to 4-2 at 7:58.

• Tampa's defense tightened from there, limiting the Hawks to just two shots in the quarter and carrying the two-goal cushion into halftime.

• Rockhurst came out aggressive in the third, cutting it to 4-3 just 21 seconds in on a man-up goal.

• The Spartans answered quickly as Cho struck to restore the two-goal lead.

• Rockhurst responded again less than 30 seconds later, but from that point forward, Tampa seized complete control.

• Zach Johnson sparked the surge with an unassisted goal and Mitch Cummings followed, pushing the lead to 7-4.

• Jackson Bashaw added another to extend the margin to four.

• Rex Kesselring converted off a Conly assist at 1:35, stretching the advantage to 9-4.

• With just four seconds left in the third quarter, Cho completed his hat trick with another unassisted tally, capping a six-goal Spartan period

• Tampa kept the pressure on early in the final frame. At 14:09, Bashaw finished a feed from Kesselring to make it 11-4.

• Johnson struck again off an assist from Tommy Ortega.

•  Jacob Pages added an unassisted goal at 9:46 to give the Spartans their largest lead of the night, 13-4.

• Rockhurst added two late goals, but the outcome was firmly in Tampa's hands.

   

Spartan Performances

• Defensively, Tampa dominated the stat sheet with 34 ground balls and forced 24 Rockhurst turnovers

• Cho paced the offense with a hat trick, scoring three goals on seven shots

• Johnson, Bashaw, and Green each netted two goals. 

• Four other Spartans scored once, including Cummings and Pages who each scored their first collegiate goal. 

• In net, Westin Schmidt earned the win with Kyle Rolley adding two saves in relief and Charlie Villa preserving the victory for the Spartans in the final minutes.

Up Next: The Spartans return to Naimoli Family Athletic and Intramural Complex on Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. to host Concordia University Irvine.