1st-Minute Goal Gives Mocs the Lead, Overtime Goal Wins the Game

LAKELAND â€" Florida Southern’s first goal Saturday night came in the first minute of play, and its second goal came in the very last. Zach Hofstetter and Givi Kokaia factored in both of them, with Hofstetter scoring the game-winner to give the Moccasins a 2-1, double overtime victory over Palm Beach Atlantic.

Florida Southern (6-2-1) scored almost immediately after the opening kickoff when Kokaia set up the Moccasins with a pass straight down the middle of the field for Hofstetter. Taking the ball into the box, Hofstetter may or may not have been taking a shot himself, but regardless of his intent, the ball was re-directed by a PBA defender out to the right wing where Viktor Bakkioui collected it. The freshman forward finished the play with a shot inside the near post for his sixth goal of the season.

Bakkioui’s goal came with just 47 seconds elapsed, the eighth time in team history the Mocs scored in the first minute of a game. The last time it happened was against Saint Leo on October 29, 2002; Pete Schiebel did the honors that night, though Florida Southern went on to lose the game. The school record for the fastest goal at the start of a match is still held by Nick Koumantzelis, who needed only 15 seconds to score against Eckerd in 1977.

Oddly enough, after Bakkioui’s goal gave them an early lead, the Moccasins didn’t have another shot until Kokaia took one in the 34th minute. The low knuckler caused some problems for PBA goalkeeper Jonathan Strunk, who managed to hold on to it with Hofstetter bearing down on him.

Palm Beach Atlantic (3-3) was able to tie the game in the 20th minute when Tumi Magdalela took a downfield pass from left back Chris Karafilov, gained inside position on a Moccasin defender and took the ball into the box for a shot. It was one of only three shots allowed by Florida Southern in the first half, but the Mocs went to the break with only two.

“We didn’t play very well in the first half, and made too many individual mistakes,” said coach Hugh Seyfarth. “The guys took the direction we gave them at halftime though, attacked with more width and won a lot more second balls. We got a good performance from Jovaughn Howard too; he brought a lot of energy in the second half.”

Though it didn’t result in any goals, the Moccasins did take nine second-half shots, and Strunk had to make four saves for the Sailfish. Two of their best chances came on headers by Ashley Holmes and Brad Hunt, with Holmes pushing his slightly over the crossbar and Hunt having his grabbed by Strunk.

A flurry of activity in the 86th minute saw a shot by Bakkioui blocked at the top of the box, a second one by Howard saved inside the box, and another one by Bakkioui saved as well. The Sailfish survived that sequence and put together one of their own in the final minute, only to have a shot by Evan Singlar sail just a bit too high.

It was a startling way to end regulation as the teams combined for seven shots in the final 14 minutes after taking only 11 in the 76 minutes prior to that. It went much the same way in overtime as the Moccasins took six more to nearly double their total from regulation, and the Sailfish had four in the two 10-minute sudden death periods.

The Moccasins had a chance to win the game in the first overtime when the Sailfish were whistled for a handball inside the box. Strunk came up with his biggest play of the night, however, by guessing correctly on Kokaia’s penalty kick, and saving the shot. Kokaia’s follow-up attempt hit the post, and the Sailfish were able to clear it out of danger.

“I’ve seen a lot of teams not handle that situation very well and give away a goal after that, but our guys kept their composure and you saw our leaders, like Givi and Ashley really step up.”

When the Mocs did score the game-winner in the second overtime, it was Kokaia who helped make it possible. After taking a downfield pass from midfielder David Fletcher, the senior forward got the ball over to Hofstetter, who finished the play with a shot from the middle of the box.

“I’m pleased we got this type of win over a good PBA team. We didn’t hang our heads when things didn’t go our way, and were opportunistic when it counted.”

The Moccasins finished with a 15-13 edge in shots after the Sailfish had a 3-2 advantage at halftime. Skrunk made six saves for PBA, while Johan Jonsson made four for the Moccasins.

Jonsson had two of his saves in overtime, stopping Magdalela at the near post one minute into the first period, and grabbing a shot by Andres Tuesta in the second.

In front of Jonsson, center backs Ashley Holmes and Ryan Arndt could have put together a highlight reel from the number of plays they made on defense, while Ricky Marton and J.D. Ruiz were solid outside as well. Ruiz may have made the most crucial play for the Florida Southern defense when he broke up a cross by Magdalela in the final minute of the second half. The ball had made its way from the left side of the box all the way through, and only a sliding stop by Ruiz prevented a shot from being taken on the backside of the play.

Florida Southern will play its next game on Saturday, October 9 when it travels to Miami Shores to face Barry University. Game time is 4:30 p.m.