BOCA RATON, Fla. (Nov. 3, 2009) - The Nova Southeastern men's soccer team avenged its worst loss of the season Tuesday afternoon when they took down the No. 17 Lynn Fighting Knights in a shootout to move into the semifinals of the Sunshine State Conference Tournament. The game was scored as a 2-2 tie, but Tim Taylor's (Jr. Farmington Hills, Mich.) penalty kick pushed the Sharks further in the playoffs.

"It was real nerve racking, but I knew where it would go and I was confident," said Taylor. "The team played a great game, we'll do the same against Tampa."

The Sharks (8-9-2), who lost to the Fighting Knights (14-3-1), 7-0 earlier in the season, showed quickly that this game would be a much more competitive affair. In the 16th minute, Romain Onteniente (Sr., Nice, France) played the ball to Aly Hassan (Jr., Weston, Fla.) who scored on a highlight play from 20 yards out. Hassan put a spin move on his defender and rocketed the ball into the top right corner of the net. He now leads the team with seven goals this season.

Lynn answered back less than ten minutes later when Kyle Conrad scored off of a great cross. The first half was an even one with Lynn outshooting NSU, 6-5.

The Sharks scored their second goal off of a free kick in the 49th minute. Instead of taking the shot, Onteninete earned his second assist of the game by playing the ball over the defense to Juan Rivera (So., Miami, Fla.). Rivera scored his first career goal from just seven yards out on the left side of the goal. Onteniente is now three away from 100 career points.

For the final 30 minutes, Lynn played with a sense of urgency and controlled the ball for much of the game. The Fighting Knights tied the game with just seven minutes to go when Conrad scored his second goal on the left side of the 18-yard box. Onteniente took two more shots in regulation but the Sharks couldn't get on top before 90 minutes.

The Sharks could not put together much offense in the first overtime period. They did not take a shot while the Fighting Knights four in the 10 minute period. Lyle Howe (Fr. Coral Springs, Fla.), who had seven saves on the day, kept the Sharks in the game with three saves in the period. Neither team had a shot on goal in the second overtime period and the game came down to a shootout.

In the first five penalty kicks, each team made four which pushed the game into sudden death. On Lynn's eighth penalty kick, Luke Magil put a hard shot straight off the crossbar. The miss set up Tim Taylor's shootout winning shot that slipped right past the goalkeeper.

The shootout win advances the Sharks in the 2009 Sunshine State Conference Men's Soccer Tournament. NSU will now get set to face the No. 2 seeded Tampa Spartans in the semifinals this Friday, Nov. 6 at 8 p.m. in Tampa.