Lakeland Tropics will conclude inaugural PDL campaign with road trip vs. Tampa Bay Rowdies U23

TAMPA BAY – The Lakeland Tropics will close out their first ever season in the USL's Premier Development League with a make up match against the Tampa Bay Rowdies U23 side Thursday at the Waters Avenue Soccer complex. Kickoff is at 6 p.m.

Win, lose or draw, the Tropics will finish third in the nine-team southeast division. They enter Thursday's game at 9-3-1 (28 points), after having their playoff hopes dashed in a 2-1 loss at the Soccer Institute of Montverde Academy, who improved to 11-1-1 (34 points), good for first place in the division. FC Miami City is second (10-1-1, 31 points). Only the top two teams earn playoff spots in the PDL post-season.

This will be the Tropics third game in five days, including a win in their final home game of the season Sunday at Bryant Stadium, 1-0 over IMG.

The Rowdies and Tropics tangled June 3 at Bryant Stadium, with Lakeland escaping with a 2-1 win. Ricky Espin scored in the first half to  give Tampa Bay an early lead. The Tropics scored twice in the second half, one from Juan Tejada and the game winner from captain Ricardo Diegues on a penalty kick at the start of stoppage time.

Tampa Bay comes into the game with a tough-luck 3-7-1 record. Their game against IMG Tuesday night was rained out. Kevin Mendoza leads the Rowdies in goals (8) and assists (3). Diegues leads the Tropics with 10 goals, but suffered a thigh injury at SIMA and sat out the second half. Tejada is the second leading active scorer with five goals this year. Victor Rojas scored six times for Lakeland before leaving last week to play professionally for a second-division team in Portugal.

Lakeland's sister-franchise, the Florida Tropics of the Major Arena Soccer League, will start their second season at the Lakeland Center later this fall. More information on the Lakeland Tropics can be found at www.lakelandtropics.com, or on the Florida Tropics at www.floridatropics.com.