LAKELAND — Falling behind by two goals early, the Florida Tropics rebounded convincingly to defeat divisional rival Harrisburg 7-5 in a Major Arena Soccer League game Saturday night on Sykes Field inside the RP Funding Center.

Getting off to a lackadaisical start, the Tropics permitted Harrisburg’s Elmo Neto to go unchallenged, scoring only 33 seconds into the game.

Neto would score again at 9:06 remaining in the opening quarter to give the Heat a 2-0 advantage.

However, the Tropics effectively increased their defensive pressure, quickening the pace of the game. The defensive intensity quickly paid dividends as Florida scored twice in the last two minutes of the quarter.

Ricardo Diegues’ first shot was blocked but he put in the rebound with 1:41 remaining. Anthony Arico then put in a rebound shot with 57.3 seconds remaining to tie the game 2-2.

The Tropics' defense essentially shut down Harrisburg out-scoring the Heat 5-1 over the next two quarters for a 7-3 lead after three quarters.

“They scored some unlucky goals early” said Tropics head coach Clay Roberts. "But our guys really executed our game plan well. We planned to press them and we continued to that executed the plan well especially in the third quarter. Even though we were down, our guys really kept their composure, kept the pressure on them and it was big to get those two goals to even the game at the end of the first quarter. From there, we executed for four quarters. It was a good, solid win for us.”

The Tropics out-shot the Heat 33-24 and Mauricio Salles scored two goals.

Victor Parreiras, Freddy Moojen and Raphael Schlempler also scored goals for the Tropics who improved their season record to 5-4, while the Heat fell to 4-6.

With the win the Tropics broke their two-game losing streak and also defeated Harrisburg for the first time in their two-year history after losing all four games to Harrisburg last season.

Only two teams from each division will advance to the playoffs so each game against Harrisburg will be vitally important if the Tropics hope to play in the postseason.

After some time off for Christmas, the Tropics will travel to face the St Louis Ambush on New Year's Eve.