The Stetson men's soccer team hosted Winthrop University Saturday afternoon and played the Eagles to a 2-2 tie. Just prior to kickoff the Stetson seniors were honored for their hard work over the past four years. Taking the walk to midfield with parents, siblings and friends were Alex Leone (Durham, NC), Jake Feltner (Springfield, OH), Gabe Shibly (Titusville, FL), and co-captains Victor Webb (Birmingham, England) and Tanner Wolfe (Hudson, FL).
Winthrop opened up the scoring at 22:40 of the first half on a goal by Saidi Isaac. Stetson answered at 38:15 when freshman Eugene Starikov (Palm Harbor, FL) scored on a left footer to the far side of the goal after a nifty give and go with Wolfe. It was Starikov's 6th goal of the season.
Early in the second Wolfe was at it again when he made a run down the left side and set up junior Kirk Labusch (Brandon, Fla.) who booted a left footer just inside the near post. It was the 5th goal of the season for Labusch and the 7th assist for Wolfe.
As the clock was winding down and it looked like the Hatters would take home their 11th win of the season, Winthrop's Dave Carton snuck a shot past Hatters goalkeeper Evan White (Surrey, British Columbia) with just 26 seconds remaining.
After two scoreless overtime periods both teams left the pitch with a well deserved, evenly played tie game. Stetson is now 10-4-2 on the season and Winthrop is 9-2-3.
Stetson will finish out its regular season by hosting Georgia Southern University at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, November 6. The Hatters will be hosting the Atlantic Sun Conference Championship Tournament from November 14-17. Stetson enters the six-team tournament with a first round bye as the second seed.
