LAKELAND - Aly Hassan kept Nova Southeastern's postseason hopes alive, and at the same time helped the Sharks take a bite out of Florida Southern's. With Hassan scoring two second-half goals and the defense recording its fourth shutout of the season, Nova defeated Florida Southern 2-0 Wednesday night at Barnett Field.
The Sharks (7-4-2, 3-4) won their third straight game to climb out of the cellar, and in so doing, have put themselves in position to make the league's postseason tournament, even after an 0-4 start in the Sunshine State Conference. Meanwhile, the Moccasins (8-4-1, 3-4) were looking to secure a bid to the SSC Tournament themselves, while strengthening their case for the NCAA Tournament, but will have to wait another week on both counts.
"We came out and played a good first half tonight, but one mistake defending an all-conference player allows them to score and the game changes," said head coach Hugh Seyfarth.
A scoreless first half saw each team take five shots before Hassan struck for his first goal early in the second. The senior forward used his own dribbling to work his way around the Moccasin defense at the top of the box, and found room for an open shot that gave Nova a 1-0 lead two minutes into the second half. He later scored again in the 81st minute with the Mocs pressing forward, taking a long downfield pass from left back Juan Rivera and chipping a shot from the top left corner of the box into the far side of the net.
Only a brilliant save by FSC goalkeeper Johan Jonsson in the 88th minute prevented Hassan from recording a hat trick. Nova's leading scorer with nine goals for the season, Hassan has now scored his team's last four goals to give them a 2-1 win over Saint Leo and a 2-0 win over Florida Southern. It also marked the second year in a row he scored twice against the Moccasins.
Nova out-shot Florida Southern 11-9, with Lyle Howe making four saves to record the shutout. The last came on a header by Ashley Holmes with 4:24 remaining when the Moccasin center back was on the receiving end of a perfect cross from Adam Hansjons. He'd earlier tipped away a free kick from Zach Hofstetter in the 55th minute and the Mocs were unable to score on the ensuing corner kick. Howe also got help all night from Simon Nett and Stefano Noce in the middle, with that pair helping limit the Florida Southern forwards to only one shot in the game. Noce was also able to stop Givi Kokaia inside the box midway through the second half when the Mocs were threatening to tie the score.
Jonsson had two saves for Florida Southern, both of them in the second half. The Moccasin defense kept him realtively at ease during the first half, with midfielders Luke Jenner and David Fletcher coming up with perhaps the two biggest plays. Jenner stopped Hassan at the end of a long run in the 29th minute, after the Nova striker had dribbled through and around five players on his way into the box. Fletcher then took the full force of a free kick by Tim Taylor in the 43rd minute, and the Mocs turned away a corner kick after that to send the game to halftime without a goal.
"We just weren't up for scoring tonight," said Seyfarth. "This might be a good lesson for a young team to learn. You can't get up for just some games, you have to get up for all of them. You need that energy every game. Credit Nova and their coaching staff though. A week ago, they were 0-4 in conference and they've come back to win three games in impressive fashion."
Florida Southern will host Ave Maria, an NAIA school from southwest Florida, in its final regular season home game Saturday night at 7:00. They return to conference play on Thursday, October 28 at Florida Tech.
