ST. PETERSBURG â€" Jackie Bachteler won’t show up on the stat sheet, though Alex Hoover will. Nevertheless, Princess Haley has both of them to thank for her best game of the season. Haley scored two first-half goals, Kerri-Ann Brown scored one in the second half, and Hoover assisted all three as Florida Southern defeated Eckerd 3-0 on Tuesday night.
The Moccasins (4-4, 1-1 Sunshine State Conference) earned their fourth straight win over the Tritons (0-5-1, 0-2), and their third straight by shutout. The Mocs had control throughout the game, out-shooting the Tritons 14-3 and were never seriously threatened. None of Eckerd’s three shots were even close, and only one came from inside the box.
The Moccasins’ first goal came courtesy of a corner kick taken by Bachteler in the 20th minute. Sending it to the middle of the penalty box, it was first played by Hoover, then by Emily Griffith, who found Haley near the left post for an easy shot that gave the Mocs a 1-0 lead.
One minute later, Haley nearly scored again but pushed a shot from outside the box just over the upper left corner of the goal. The Tritons then repelled another corner kick by Bachteler, followed by a well-struck shot by Hoover that was saved by Marissa Berger.
Florida Southern broke through again in the 38th minute, again with the help of Bachteler and Hoover. This time it was Bachteler playing a defensive role, intercepting a pass in the center circle to start the Moccasins running the other way. Concerned with Ashlie Haas breaking downfield, the Tritons may have forgotten about Hoover in the middle, who took Bachteler’s pass instead, and quickly got it to Morgan Sammons on the right flank. Sammons took it into the corner, then sent a perfectly timed cross for Haley who slammed home a shot for her second goal of the night.
Exactly five minutes into the second half, Hoover and the Moccasins struck again. Brown was on the receiving end of scoring pass this time, taking it into the left side of the box and ripping a shot off Berger’s hands and into the upper reaches of the net. It was Brown’s team-leading fourth goal of the season and it allowed Hoover to tie the school record with three assists in a game.
From that point, the Florida Southern defense closed out the game, and Martina Tangen Billing did not have to make a save in earning her third shutout of the year. She didn’t even touch the ball of the foot of a Triton player until the 70th minute. Eckerd’s best chance at scoring came five minutes later on a free kick, but it was cleared before a shot could be taken. Samantha Nichols later had a shot from inside the box, but it was well over the crossbar.
Overall, the Eckerd defense held up pretty well. Under constant pressure throughout the night, they turned away the Mocs time and time again. Nicole Davis cut off a handful of scoring chances in the first half alone, and the 14 shots allowed by the Tritons were 19 fewer than they surrendered in a 6-0 loss in 2008.
Florida Southern returns to the field Thursday night with another SSC match in Fort Lauderdale against Nova Southeastern. Game time is 7:00.
