FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Back at home for the first time in nearly two weeks, the Nova Southeastern men's soccer team continued its magical stretch by beating the Rollins Tars 3-1 at the NSU Soccer Complex on Saturday night. The win marked the group's eighth in a row, a first for the program dating back to its inaugural season in 1984.

INSIDE THE MATCHUP:
Score: Nova Southeastern 3, Rollins 1
Records: Nova Southeastern (8-1, 4-0 SSC), Rollins (6-4, 0-4 SSC)
Location: NSU Soccer Complex | Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
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HOW IT HAPPENED:

• The Sharks were motivated offensively out of the gate, with Bradley Fountain taking the first of three shots in the opening eight minutes. A rocket off the foot of Fountain in the fourth minute was batted away by the Rollins keeper.
• Following a substitution at keeper, the Nova Southeastern offense quickly welcomed its new freshman net-minder, who was making his collegiate debut, with a two-goal advantage. In the 19^th minute, Darwin Lom snuck a perfect shot in between the left post and the keeper's outstretched arms for his sixth goal of the season.
• Just over three minutes later, Sebastian Loibl added to the lead by accepting an on-target pass from Curtis Thorn and beating the goalkeeper one-on-one for his ninth of the season
• The Sharks maintained their determination for the rest of the first half, adding another five shots over the next 15 minutes, but settled for their 2-0 lead into the break.
• Just about a minute into the second half, the Tars slimmed the margin down to one when Tars' reserve winger Christian Adams got by Lopez from the right side.
• That proved to be a sign of things to come, as the Tars kept up their increased attack on Lopez, including a flurry of three shots in less than a minute. The first went wide in the 55^th minute and Lopez made a clutch save, the first of his career, on Adams the second time, before Adams recovered the rebound but hit the left post with the follow-up.
• Despite being outshot 6-4 for the first 30-plus minutes of the second half, the Sharks turned their offensive jets back on in an attempt to put the Tars out of reach, with seven shots in the final 13 minutes. After a handful of close calls, opportunity came knocking with a Rollins handball near the box in the 86^th minute. Ignacio Goya sent the free kick towards Loibl, whose header attempt was stopped, but the ball found Stefan Faistenauer and he fired it right back in to ice the game.

BEYOND THE BOXSCORE:

• The Sharks eclipsed the previous win streak record of seven matches first set in 1986 and later matched in 2000, 2002, 2004 and 2007.
• The victory snapped an 11-game winless drought against Rollins, the last win coming on Oct. 18, 2008 on the road by a 3-0 score.
• Tonight also ended a streak of seven consecutive home losses to the Tars, the first victory at the NSU Soccer Complex since Oct. 19, 2002, a 1-0 shutout.
• This is the first 4-0 Sunshine State Conference start since Nova Southeastern joined the conference as full members in 2004. The program's last 4-0 start in conference play came in 1998 as members of the NAIA's Florida Sun Conference.
• Including their four-game streak to end the 2017 season, the Sharks are now winners of 12 of their last 13 matches.
• Tonight's victory secures a winning regular season for the second year in a row, something that has not been accomplished since 2007-2008, and also matches last season's win total.
• The program's last four-game SSC win streak was from Oct. 13-27 of 2010, when despite dropping their first four conference matches, the club rebounded for an even 4-4 league record.

STATS OF THE NIGHT:

• With a goal and an assist tonight, Loibl has now earned points in seven of the team's nine matches, and three or more points four times. His totals of nine goals and 22 points are already the most by any Shark since Aly Hassan's 11 and 25, respectively, in 2010, while the nine goals are also tied for the sixth-highest mark since NSU became full members of the conference in 2004. In addition to solidifying his place atop the conference's points leaderboard, Loibl also took back sole possession of the league lead in goals.
• In limited action, Titouan Le Roux improved his SSC-leading numbers of a .889 save percentage and .318 goals-against average in league play. He also has a save percentage of .773 and a goals-against average of 0.70 during the course of the winning streak, and has not allowed a goal in over 285 consecutive minutes of game action.
• Faistenauer's late clincher was the fifth goal in his three years wearing the white and blue, and his first since last season's finale on Oct. 29. Faistenauer ended the 2017 campaign with all three of his goals in the season's final four matches.
• Arns Carrenard, credited with the assist on Lom's goal, earned the first point of his career with the Sharks. He had played 1,591 minutes across 20 games on the back line entering tonight's game.
• Curtis Thorn and Ignacio Goya each picked up their third assists of the season. For Goya, the 2017 team leader, it was the eighth of his career.
• The Sharks took 11 shots in each half, while Rollins made four saves on them on each side of the break. The Sharks had an 11-2 edge in shots and 3-0 in corner kicks when the horn blew to signal halftime.

UP NEXT:
The Sharks will play their next two matches away from home, a situation which has yet to phase them, as they are a perfect 3-0 on the road thus far. On Wednesday, the squad will travel south to Miami Shores to face off against the Barry Buccaneers, whom the Sharks have defeated two years in a row and in three of the last four meetings. For complete coverage of the action, visit the schedule page on NSUSharks.com.