A tale of two halves would be an understatement when describing Sunday's A-Sun Conference match between visiting Lipscomb University and host Stetson University. The Bisons owned the first half and the Hatters dominated the remainder of the double-overtime match.
Lipscomb opened up the scoring at 13:22. Senior forward Jorge Suarez (Murfeesboro, Tenn.) made a run down the right side and setup freshman forward Miguel DaSilva (Lauderhill, Fla.) for the first goal of the match.
Less than ten minutes later the Hatters' efforts to mount a comeback took a severe hit when junior Alex Robinson was flagged with a red card for rough play and forced to sit on the bench leaving Stetson a man short. Lipscomb benefited from its advantage and scored two more goals within the next three and a half minutes. Both goals were scored by DaSilva on unassisted quick counter attacks giving him a hat trick. The Bisons carried a 3-0 lead and an 8-6 shot advantage into halftime.
Hatters Head Coach Logan Fleck must have had some words of wisdom for the lads. Whatever he said in the 15-minute break worked and the Hatters returned to the field on fire. The offensive press was on with defenders and midfielders moving forward and the Hatters applying relentless pressure.
One minute and 27 seconds into the second, junior Kirk LaBusch (Brandon, Fla.) found the back of the net with assists from senior Tanner Wolfe (Hudson, Fla.) and sophomore Set Carpintero (Orlando, Fla.). It was the third goal of the season for LaBusch.
At 59:03 the balance of players on the pitch evened when Lipscomb's Garrett McLaughlin was issued a second caution and ejected with a red card. Just over a minute later Stetson struck again. Freshman defender Daniel Sackman (Hampshire, England) picked up a rebound of his own shot that hit the post and scored the first goal of his collegiate career.
At 70:42 sophomore defender Robert Hodge (Devon, England) scored his first goal of the season with assists from LaBusch and freshman Eugene Starikov (Palm Harbor, Fla.). The push to even up the score was complete.
Stetson maintained pressure for the remainder of the half and throughout both overtime periods yet could not punch home a winning goal. Post halftime the Hatters led the Bisons in shots by a 27-8 margin. Twelve of the 18 Stetson players on the box score had at least one shot. Starikov and LaBusch led the way with seven each, Wolfe finished with six.
Stetson is now 8-4-1 overall and 4-2-1 in conference, Lipscomb moves to 5-6-3 and 4-1-2.
The tie score combined with results of conference play over the weekend have assured the Hatters a spot in the 2007 Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament. This year's tournament will be hosted by the Hatters in DeLand from November 14-17.
