Senior day at Lynn University turned into a bad day for Florida Southern in the Moccasins' final game of the year. With all five of the Knights' upper classmen scoring at least one goal, 2nd-ranked Lynn dealt Florida Southern a 10-0 loss and clinched the Sunshine State Conference regular season title with the win.
The Knights (14-1, 6-1) jumped out to a 2-0 lead when Nano Short connected on a header off a cross from James Hayers three minutes into the game, and Jean Alexandre scored the first of his four goals less than one minute later. The score remained that way for most of the half as the Moccasins (3-12, 2-6) settled down and created some chances of their own. Among them were near-misses by Patrik Dandanell in the 21st minute and Daniel Heaney in the 42nd.
"I think we played well for almost 60 minutes of a 90-minute game against the best team in the country," said coach Hugh Seyfarth afterward. "But with only one sub available, we were absolutely worn out at the end. Lynn just keeps coming at you."
Alexandre notched his second goal of the day late in the first half to give the Knights a 3-0 lead at the break. It came off a cross from fellow senior Tyrell Burgess, who would go on to score two goals himself early in the second half.
Alexandre also scored Lynn's first goal of the second half, with that one coming in the 53rd minute. Burgess then scored on back-to-back shots in the 54th and 58th minutes, and just like that it was 6-0.
Brendan Howard scored in the 75th minute, and the Knights finished the day with three goals in the final 10 minutes, with Hayers and Lee Porter completing the senior sweep. Alexandre also added a fourth goal during that time after assisting the second goal scored by Burgess. It was the second hat trick of the season for the SSC's leading scorer.
With several players out due to injury, and two others serving required suspensions because of card accumulation, the Moccasins were down to 12 players for the match. Sebastian Haupt was the only Moccasin defender with more than four career starts on the back line, and was making his first start in the middle. The Mocs were also forced to start several others out of position, but there was no relief to be had as the game wore on throughout the day.
Lynn finished with a 25-6 advantage in shots and FSC goalkeeper Paul DiPalma made six saves. None of them were easy, and many came at close range. He also came out to challenge the Knights on a couple of other plays to prevent them from taking a shot on goal.
Adam Alcock recorded the shutout for Lynn, which won the SSC regular season title for the second year in a row and seventh time overall.
