GAME CENTRAL

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The Nova Southeastern men’s soccer team (3-8-1, 1-5-0 SSC) will play one of its last two Sunshine State Conference matches this Saturday, Oct. 15 when the Sharks travel to Melbourne, Fla. to face the Florida Tech Panthers (7-4-1, 3-1-1 SSC) at 3 p.m.

The season is on life support for the Sharks as they will need to win their last two SSC matches and get some help from around the conference in order to advance to the SSC tournament. Since joining the conference in 2004, NSU is the only school to advance to every conference tournament.

That streak was put in serious danger this past Wednesday when the Sharks fell to No. 4 Rollins, 2-1. It was not all gloom and doom though, as the Sharks nearly battled back to tie the nation’s fourth best team. Down by two goals, the Sharks scored with ten minutes remaining as Alvin Quaye (Sr., West Ham, England) knocked in the second goal of his career. The Sharks had several opportunities to tie the score down the stretch but could not knock it in. The match ended up coming down to a mental error that Rollins capitalized on just 16 seconds into the match.

Regardless of the outcome, a team with 14 freshmen showed improvement in their match against the Tars. The Sharks took 11 shots with six of them on target in the match. It was the most shots and shots-on-goal the Sharks have recorded in three matches.

While the Sharks fight to keep their season alive, the Panthers will have equally as much on the line. The Panthers are aiming for their first SSC championship in 17 years. From 1989 to 1994, the Panthers won five out of six conference titles. During that span, FIT took home a coach of the year award in 1990 while FIT great Richard Sharpe won three straight player of the year honors from 1991 to 1993.

Since then, FIT has never won a postseason award. A win would put the Panthers at 13 points, which may be good enough for first place depending on the outcome of Saturday night’s marquee match between Rollins and Lynn.

Historically, FIT has a slight edge as the Sharks are 8-11-2 all-time against the Panthers. The Sharks have been in a slump against the Panthers, losing the last three matches.

Last season, the Sharks dropped an overtime match in the pouring rain as South Florida was hit by Tropical Storm Nicole. Darryl Gordon, who now plays professionally in Hungary, scored both of the Sharks’ goals in the loss. Nick Robinson scored the golden goal in the 96th minute for FIT and is one of the Panthers’ top goal scorers this season.

Fans can follow the Sharks on the road via live audio and stats HERE. Follow the men’s soccer team on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/NSUSharks.

For the latest NSU news and results, be sure to visit www.NSUSharks.com. To have results sent directly to your cell phone via text message, sign up for SMS text message delivery by clicking here. For the latest news, be sure to sign up for the Shark Alert E-newsletter by clicking here.