Four straight goals ignites rally as Tropics trip up Harrisburg, 6-4, to stay atop east

LAKELAND, Fla. -- The Florida Tropics scored four unanswered goals in the second half to rally past the Harrisburg Heat, 6-4, in a Major Arena Soccer League Friday night at the RP Funding Center in Lakeland.

Harrisburg had a one-goal advantage on three different occasions early on, but the four-goal run started when Ricardo Carvalho got his second of the night with 9:13 to go in the third to tie the game at 3-3.

That was followed by scores from Zach Reget, Anthony Arico and Victor Parreriras to stretch the Tropics lead to 6-3 midway through the fourth.

"It was a solid win for us. Our defensive effort was much better, and that was really the key. We got timely goals, and really seemed to find our legs in the second half. It's been a long stretch of games for us, so getting three points tonight was really the only priority." -- TROPICS COACH CLAY ROBERTS

Reget, who has now scored at least one goal in all eight of the Tropics games this year, added two assists for a three-point night. Vini Dantas chipped in with two assists for Florida who also got a goal from Drew Ruggles.

Alejandro Chavez had two goals and an assist to lead the Harrisburg attack.

Chris Frederick, making his first ever start in goal in the Major Arena Soccer League, faced 24 shots and was credited with 10 saves, in picking up the win in goal.

The Tropics (5-2-1) set atop the east with 16 points, four points ahead of Kansas City.  Harrsiburg falls to 1-3. 

 After this weekend’s double dip – which ends a stretch of eight games in 22 days – they will host the Milwaukee Wave in what figures to be a key east showdown next Sunday, Jan. 15 at the RP Funding Center. 

Tickets for all home games are available starting at just $7 per game by calling the arena box office at 863-834-8111. Although tickets are also available online at www.rpfundingcenter.com, service fees are significantly higher through Ticketmaster as opposed to calling the box office directly. Tickets are also available on game day at the box office.