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Nova Southeastern University Athletics

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Jan Luc Ahillen
2
Saint Leo SLM (3-10 (0-7 SSC))
5
Winner Nova Southeastern NSUM (10-3 (6-2 SSC))
Saint Leo SLM
(3-10 (0-7 SSC))
2
Final
5
Nova Southeastern NSUM
(10-3 (6-2 SSC))
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Saint Leo SLM 2 0 2
Nova Southeastern NSUM 2 3 5

Game Recap: Men's Soccer |

No. 20 Sharks Overtake Saint Leo with Second Half Offensive Barrage

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Tied 2-2 at halftime, the Nova Southeastern University men's soccer team found what was missing defensively during the break and combined it with an even more potent offense, as they defeated the Saint Leo Lions 5-2 at the NSU Soccer Complex on Saturday night. Combined with a loss by the Barry Buccaneers, the Sharks joined the Lynn Fighting Knights jumped in a tie for second place in the Sunshine State Conference standings, adding additional marquee potential to their Senior Night showdown on Oct. 23 – the regular season finale for both teams.

INSIDE THE MATCHUP:
Score: Nova Southeastern 5, Saint Leo 2
Records: Nova Southeastern (10-3, 6-2 SSC), Saint Leo (3-10, 0-7 SSC)
Location: NSU Soccer Complex | Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
Get Social: Twitter - @NSU_MSoccer | Instagram - @nsu_msoccer | Facebook - /nsusoccer

HOW IT HAPPENED:
  • The Sharks broke the ice first in the 19th minute. Jan Luca Ahillen wove a corner kick into the box, where Bryan Bakboord missed, but Lucas Dessoliers was able to corral the rebound and send it back into the net.
  • A mere four minutes later, the Lions tied the match when Elias Niesigk accepted a corner kick from Michael Tinari and put it past Sharks keeper Brian Lopez.
  • Niesigk gave the Lions the lion in the 29th minute, getting Lopez to leave the box to chase after a loose ball, using the opening to bounce it in.
  • Saint Leo's lead, however, would not last but two minutes. After a Lions foul in the box sent Ahillen in to attempt a penalty kick, hitting his spot in the lower left corner as the Lions' netminder dove the opposite direction.
  • After staying tied through the end of the first half, Ignacio Goya finally did something about it nine minutes out of the break. The defense redirected a Lions corner kick attempt back downfield, and Darwin Lom handed the ball off to Bradley Fountain, giving Goya a perfect through-ball on the right side to beat the keeper.
  • After another 22 minutes of the Sharks keeping the Lions at bay with a one-goal lead, the offense two-timed them in less than a minute to seal the deal. First, Michael Lawrence took a pass from Fountain and stayed just short of an offsides call in the 77th minute.
  • 56 seconds later, Juan Nunez gave Fountain his own scoring opportunity, and he made it count, dribbling around a handful of defenders before firing it in.
BEYOND THE BOXSCORE:
  • The Sharks have reached double-digit wins for just the fourth time since becoming full SSC members in 2004 and the first time since 2008, when they finished the season 10-9-1. In 2007, the team went 12-5-2 and they tied program records for wins and winning percentage that were previously set by 2002's 15-4-1 season when they ended their 2004 campaign with the same record.
  • Tonight's win also broke the record for most SSC wins in a season, breaking a tie with the squads from 2004 (5-2-1) and just last year (5-5).
  • The offense tallied five goals in an SSC game for just the third time ever. The last such occurrence was Oct. 27, 2010, when they defeated Lynn by the same 5-2 score as tonight, also at the NSU Soccer Complex. The first, meanwhile, was Halloween of 2004, when a hat trick by NSU Hall of Fame (2011) inductee Matthew Parry led the Sharks to a 7-1 victory at Florida Tech.
  • Graduate transfer Jan Luca Ahillen and Darwin Lom each recorded their fifth assists of the season, tying Sebastian Loibl for second on the team behind Aleks Berg. That makes them the program's first quadruplet with five or more assists in the same season since 2004. Only five other SSC players have tallied five or more assists this season.
STATS OF THE NIGHT:
  • Lucas Dessoliers' early goal to start the scoring for either team was his first in 28 career matches for the Sharks. As a freshman last season, Dessoliers was the only player to appear in all 15 matches and he is one just seven Sharks to still be able to make that claim through 13 games this season.
  • Ahillen also scored the first goal of his career and the team's first penalty kick goal since Stefan Faistenauer last Oct. 19 vs. Ave Maria. It was the first goal on a PK in conference since Lom did so a mere five days before Faistenauer, this one a 56th minute game-winner coincidentally scored at Saint Leo.
  • With a goal and an assist, Bradley Fountain became the fourth Shark to reach the 10-point plateau this season, following Loibl, Lom and Berg.
  • The Sharks improved their SSC-best numbers of 2.38 goals per game in conference play and a 1.50 goal differential.
UP NEXT:
The Sharks will have a week to prepare before they head to St. Petersburg and take on the Eckerd Tritons next Satuday at 6:00 p.m. For complete coverage of the action, visit the schedule page on NSUSharks.com.
 
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