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MELBOURNE - Liz Gorman and Martina Tangen Billing play at opposite ends of the field for Florida Southern and rarely come in contact with each other during a typical game. Saturday afternoon, at opposite ends of the field, it was that pair of disparate elements that led Florida Southern to a 2-0 win at Florida Tech.ÂÂ
The teams were locked in a scoreless battle for more than 60 minutes before Gorman broke the deadlock. Defender Renee Heacock started the attack for Florida Southern (8-3, 2-0 Sunshine State Conference), pushing the ball forward out of the back. Florida Tech (9-4, 1-3) cleared it, but Erin Hopkins quickly re-gained possession for the Moccasins and fed Gorman on the right side of the box. Gorman then sliced a shot back across the field and inside the left post for her first goal of the season.
Before Gorman's goal, the Moccasins were given a spark by Tangen Billing. With the Panthers awarded a penalty kick after a big collision in the box, the freshman goalkeeper came up with a save by diving to her right to stop Teresa Brantley. That shot, eight minutes into the second half, turned out to be the last taken by Florida Tech as the Moccasins took complete control of the game; they out-shot the Panthers 9-0 in the final 30 minutes.
The Moccasins were also awarded a penalty kick later in the second half and converted theirs, with Alex Hoover doing the honors. It was Hoover's seventh goal of the season, and gives the freshman 15 points in her young career.
The back line of Lexie Bottomley, Renee Heacock, Ashlie Haas and Kristen Vollmer allowed only five shots in the game, the sixth time this year they've held a team to single digits. The result was the Moccasins' fifth shutout of the year and their sixth straight win. It equals the longest winning streak in school history and gives Florida Southern a 2-0 start in conference play for the first time ever.
Neither team scored in the first half and each had only three shots. The Moccasins had the better of those chances though, with one of them taken by Linda Hoglund just 12 seconds into the game. She forced Melissa Pyles into an early save, but the Mocs were unable to turn the first-minute corner kick into a goal.
In the 28th minute, the Mocs came even closer to scoring when Gorman worked free inside the box for a shot from the right wing. It went off the post, however, keeping the game scoreless.
Most of the Panthers' first-half scoring chances came on their five corner kicks. The Moccasins repelled each of them, and gave up a shot on only one of them. That came from Ann-Marie Helgestad three minutes into the game and resulted in a save by Tangen Billing. She had three saves in the game.
Florida Southern will play its next game on Monday night at 7:30 when it hosts Eckerd College.
FSC 0  2   -  2
FT    0  0   -  0
SCORING: FSC-Gorman (Hopkins), 60:08; FSC--Hoover (penalty kick), 76:36. SHOTS: FSC 14, FT 5. CORNER KICKS: FSC 11, FT 5. SAVES: FSC 3 (Tangen Billing), FT 6 (Pyles). FOULS: FSC 14, FT 19. CAUTIONS: Helgestad (FT), 16:56; Carnegie (FT), 58:13.
