Kicking the Habit: Moccasins Earn First Victory Over Lynn

BOCA RATON â€" When Florida Southern played Lynn at the end of the 2009 season, the Moccasins were in the throes of a one-win season and playing for pride. When they met again in 2010, there was so much more at stake, as the Mocs continued their playoff push with an historic 2-1 victory over the Knights.

If Florida Southern (8-3-1, 3-3 Sunshine State Conference) lost a step in that push with a loss to Tampa on Tuesday, then the Moccasins re-gained it on Saturday. With four teams selected for the NCAA South Region Tournament, Florida Southern began the week at #4 in the NCAA regional rankings, sandwiched between #3 Lynn and #5 Tampa. It remains to be seen how the last two results will impact next week’s regional rankings, but the Mocs certainly made their case. It was their third win over a nationally ranked opponent this year (all on the road), and their first win ever against the Knights (8-5, 2-3), who were #15. The Mocs had lost 16 straight to Lynn before Saturday, including a 10-0 loss in 2008 in their last trip to Boca Raton.

It’s another measuring stick for how far the team has come in such a short time.

“You have to like the spirit and the character of this team,” said head coach Hugh Seyfarth. “We lost a tough game on Tuesday, and knew we were going to have another tough game today, but we had two good training sessions leading into this, were able to leave the UT game on the field and focus solely on Lynn. It was amazing to watch this afternoon, especially after what happened here two years ago.”

While the Mocs stated their case as a potential NCAA playoff team, Ashley Holmes stated his too, again proving his worth as one of the league’s top defensive players. The sophomore center back was all over the field Saturday, first giving the Mocs a 1-0 lead with a penalty kick one minute before halftime, and then single-handedly stopping the Knights from scoring in the 55th minute.

At that point, the Mocs were still holding a 1-0 lead, but the Knights were on the run and it looked as if the game would soon be tied. Ewan Clarke got the ball forward and across the field to Joey Maxson, who beat a Moccasin defender into the box to go 1-on-1 with goalkeeper Johan Jonsson. The shot by Maxson toward the far post was on target, but even as the home crowd began to celebrate, Holmes came sliding in from the far left to clear it off the line. It was so close to a goal that Holmes briefly became entangled in the side netting before he could resume play.

Energized by their co-captain, the Mocs immediately pushed forward and scored their second goal a little more than two minutes later. Givi Kokaia was able to get the ball to Zach Hofstetter a moment before he was brought down in the center of the field, and Hofstetter immediately ripped a shot from 28 yards. As Kokaia protested from his knees, the shot by Hofstetter rocketed into the upper left corner of the net, giving the Mocs a 2-0 lead.

Lynn was able to cut the deficit to one, however, when Clarke scored in the 66th minute. His high looping shot got over Jonsson from 15 yards after he received a short pass from Robert Carrick. It gave the Knights renewed vigor, and they used the momentum to out-shoot the Moccasins 6-2 the rest of the way.

Despite the steady pressure applied by the Knights in the closing minutes, the FSC defense was not broken again. All of those shots by Lynn were wide, high or blocked, including one by Joe Cundall in the 83rd minute that proved to be their last. In the final two minutes alone, the Mocs got big defensive plays from J.D. Ruiz, Ryan Arndt, Ricky Marton, Brad Hunt and Logan Albritton, with Holmes leading the way. Twice on corner kicks it was Albritton who won a header to help keep Lynn from taking a shot.

Though the first half was nearly scoreless, the Knights had the better of it in the shot totals with an 8-4 advantage. All of those shots by the Moccasins though were quality efforts, and the last one came on the penalty kick by Holmes, who buried it in the net after Jovaughn Howard had been fouled in the box.

Before that moment, the Mocs came close to scoring on three different occasions. Their first shot came in the 16th minute when a long ball sent forward by Hofstetter allowed Kokaia to fire one just over the crossbar. Kokaia had an even better shot in the 34th minute when he struck one from 30 yards that was saved in spectacular fashion by Alessandro Salvatore. Hofstetter then forced Salvatore into another diving save in the 42nd minute.

At the other end of the field, the Mocs withstood the pressure brought by the Knights, including two stops by Arndt in the first five minutes when they turned the ball over in the midfield. Nine minutes in, Holmes headed clear a dangerous cross by Robert Carrick, and the Moccasin center back later blocked a shot by Stefan Wolf at the top of the box. Ruiz did the same just before Holmes’ penalty kick.

“This was a complete team effort today,” said Seyfarth. “We’re still a very young team, but our competitive nature, and the trust and passion we have for each other was really on display today.”

Florida Southern returns home for its next game, hosting Nova Southeastern in another Sunshine State Conference match Wednesday night at 7:00.