With less than a week until the district tournament, the Knights (4-9) matched up against South Tampa rival Plant (5-8-2) at Dad’s Stadium on Tuesday night. Although the Knights entered halftime with the lead, a rough second half led to a 3-1 Panther win.

“I think the boys were on point from the start,” head coach Ally Morrell said. “Up until the second half I think we played fantastic.”

A pass from Ruslan Bissekevev (’17) to Charlie Draper (’17) put the Knights on the board early in the game, but a scoreless second half and struggling defense paved way for Plant’s comeback.

Within the first three minutes of the second half, Plant tied it up and was able to put the ball back in the net just a minute later. Minutes later, the ball ricocheted off of the goalpost, into Robinson’s Justin Nguyen’s (’18) chest and back into the goal.

“The boys did not show the urgency (in the second half) that they showed in the first half. It was overall a disappointing night for us,” Morrell said. “Heading into districts, the boys have to look inside themselves and figure out what went wrong. It has nothing to do with ability, but whether they want it enough.”

The Knights have their first district game next Monday, January 23, at 8 p.m. at Jesuit High School (4701 N Himes Ave, Tampa, FL 33614).