Box Score
ST. LEO, Fla. – The Nova Southeastern men's soccer team (3-2-2) had its five-match unbeaten streak snapped Wednesday, falling on the road to the No. 13 Saint Leo Lions (6-1-0), 2-1.
The game was a back and forth struggle, with Saint Leo controlling the action in the first half and the Sharks dictating the match in the second. Saint Leo scored both of their goals in the opening 45 minutes and had the Sharks in defensive mode early. They scored their first goal in the 27th minute on a cross into the box to Chris Lavie. The Lions doubled up seven minutes later on a score from Max Geisthovel.
In the second half, the Sharks were much more aggressive and controlled the ball for the majority of the period. A recent scoring drought for NSU ended in the 74th minute when
Matthew Ilter (Sr., Lake Mary, Fla.) scored his first goal of the season.
Mattia Marzetti (So., Rome) sent in a cross from just right of the penalty box. The cross turned into his second assist of the year, as Ilter converted the goal on a header into the top corner of the goal.
Ilter thought he had equalized just a couple of minutes later, but a goal was waved off on a late offsides call. NSU was persistent on offense down the stretch and had several scoring chances, but could not equalize.
In the end, NSU posted eight shots to Saint Leo's 10. However, NSU doubled Saint Leo's shot output in the second half, 6-3.
Stefano Fanfoni (So., Cremona, Italy) took a team-high three shots, two of which were saved by Saint Leo.
The Sharks have faced three top-20 teams, two on the road, in their last four matches and have gone 1-1-1 against them. However, Wednesday's match does not count towards NSU's Sunshine State Conference record.
The Sharks begin SSC play on Saturday against Lynn, the defending NCAA National Champions, at 3:30 p.m. in Boca Raton, Fla.
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