ST. AUGUSTINE â€" Mack Hough scored two first-half goals and Greg Taafe came off the bench to score two in the second half, to lead Flagler to a 6-1 win over Florida Southern on Wednesday night.
An evenly played match for the first 30 minutes opened up quickly when the Saints (9-5-1) scored three times in the span of three minutes and 20 seconds late in the first half. Two of those came off set plays and the third came on a sequence of shots in quick succession. Hough scored the first two, while Will Frandsen scored one and assisted one.
Both of those players were involved in the first goal, with Frandsen’s long throw-in giving Hough a shot from inside the box at the 32:06 mark. A little over one minute later, Hough scored again, knocking in a shot at the back post following a corner kick from Conor Killeen. The Saints then got three shots off in rapid-fire order in the 36th minute, one saved by Johan Jonsson, one blocked inside the box, and the last one a follow-up by Frandsen that landed in the net for a 3-0 Flagler lead.
The Saints scored again right after halftime with Frandsen again setting up the goal. With Flagler working the ball through the midfield, Frandsen received a pass from Johan Bergfeld before sending it on to Taafe. Taking the ball into the right corner of the box, Taafe fired a shot back across the goal that was on target to give Flagler a 4-0 lead less than two minutes into the second half.
The score remained that way until the 83rd minute when Taafe chipped a ball over Jonsson from the top left side of the penalty box for his second goal of the night. Eammon Murphy, who assisted that goal, then gave Flagler its final tally in the closing seconds.
The Moccasins (1-10-1) broke up Flagler’s shutout bid in the 86th minute when Zach Hofstetter ripped a shot into the net from 30 yards out. It was set up by Brad Hunt, who launched a throw-in deep into the Flagler box that was briefly cleared out of danger. However, that clearance ended up at the feet of Hofstetter, who notched his third goal of the season.
Hunt also helped set up a couple of good-looking shots by Givi Kokaia in the second half, one of them saved at close range by Flagler goalkeeper Matt Gilman. It was Gilman’s only save in the match, as the Saints out-shot the Moccasins, 23-5.
Florida Southern returns home for its final two regular season games, hosting 20th-ranked Lynn University on Saturday night at 7:00, and #3 Rollins College next Thursday night.
