TROPICS BREEZE PAST HEAT 7-1

LAKELAND, Fla – The Florida Tropics set a team record for shots in a home game in defeating the Harrisburg Heat 7-1 Friday night in a Major Arena Soccer League game in Lakeland. 

Florida peppered Harrisburg goalkeeper Willy Banahene with 48 shots, breaking the old home mark of 43 shots in a game against the St. Louis Ambush on March 8, 2020. 

The team record for shots in a game is 50 which came in Rochester on Jan. 3, 2020. Harrisburg actually broke on top, with Elton de Olivera converting a top-of-the-arc restart late in the first. Ricardo Carvalho countered with his sixth of the year less than a minute later, starting the string of seven unanswered goals. 

Zach Reget got two of those, giving him a team-leading eight on the year, while Bruno Henrique, Anthony Arico, Victor Parrieras and Brenno Oliveria also scored. For Oliveria, it was his first ever MASL goal. 

Florida netminder Hugo Silva picked up his fourth win, and lowered his league leading goals against average to 3.33. He made 13 saves and improved his league leading saves percentage to .811. 

The Tropics also set a home record for most shots in a quarter with 15. Banahene ended the night with 24 saves on 30 shots on goal as Harrisburg fell to 0-4. 

The two teams will play again Sunday at the RP Funding Center with kickoff set for 3:05 p.m. 

The game will be broadcast live on the MASL’s YouTube channel starting at 3 p.m. Sunday, with kickoff set for 3:05 p.m. The game will also be broadcast live on the “For the Fans” network available on DirecTV (Channel 623) and many cable and streaming services such as AT&T Uverse, Verizon Fios and Roku. 

Local fans can score free general admission to all of the team’s home games this winter thanks to its sponsors who are presenting the “Tropics Blitz”. 

The “Tropics Blitz” will provide free general admission tickets as a way of providing a great evening of family entertainment for parents and kids who have had their activities curtailed because of the ongoing pandemic. Vehicles with two or more persons will pay $20 to park, and then be able to take their parking receipt to the RP Funding Center box office for the same number of free tickets to that day’s game as occupants in the vehicle. Single occupant vehicles will pay just $10 for parking. 

For more information, visit www.fltropics.com.