DAVIE â€" Florida Southern’s season will continue, but its run in the Sunshine State Conference Tournament came to an end Friday night in the semifinals. After playing to a 1-1 tie through two overtime periods, Florida Tech out-scored the Moccasins 3-1 in the penalty kick shootout, sending the Panthers to their first SSC Championship Game.
Officially, the game goes into the books as a tie, and combined with their first-round win over Saint Leo, it means the Mocs’ status in the NCAA South Region rankings probably won’t be affected. They began the week at #3 behind Rollins and West Florida, with six teams selected on Monday night for the regional tournament. The Moccasins (10-5-3) will now have to qualify as an at-large team while Florida Tech, which was ranked #6 in this week’s poll, could still claim an automatic bid. The 2nd-seeded Panthers (10-5-1) will play 4th-seeded Tampa in the SSC title game Sunday at 1:00. The Spartans earned their spot by knocking off host Nova Southeastern, 2-0.
Windy conditions affected both teams throughout the game, with gusts up to 30 miles per hour either knocking the ball down or pushing it forward depending on the direction played. The Moccasins had the wind at their backs in the first half, and used it take nine shots, but it also posed problems. More than once a ball was sent downfield but ended up out of the reach of any Florida Southern attacker.
Nevertheless, the Mocs had the better of it for most of the first 45 minutes and applied enough pressure to force Florida Tech goalkeeper Mist Eliasdottir into four saves. Kara Moore had Florida Southern’s first three shots, including a free kick in the 12th minute from 35 yards that was on target but grabbed by Eliasdottir. She also battled the wind to save a high arcing shot by Moccasin defender Lexie Bottomley in the 18th minute.
An even more dangerous situation for Florida Tech occurred in the 34th minute when Princess Haley had a shot inside the box blocked out of bounds by a defender, giving the Mocs a corner kick. Jackie Bachteler took it, and the Panthers barely prevented a goal before Haley got off another shot from the top of the box that went wide left.
Florida Tech re-grouped after that and nearly scored the first goal of the match in the 39th minute but Paula Lillsjo was denied by a spectacular diving save by Martina Tangen Billing. The Panthers were able to keep the ball on that end of the field though, and when Chelsea Belfer sent a cross out of the right corner into the six-yard box, Megan Stone was there to put it home for a 1-0 Florida Tech lead.
Florida Southern answered early in the second half when Kristen Vollmer served a ball from her left back position into the box for Haley. Despite being tightly guarded, Haley gained enough position to hit a running shot past Eliasdottir for the game-tying goal, her 11th of the season.
Haley’s goal was one of only five shots the Moccasins had in the second half, while the Panthers had six. Both goalkeepers had to make saves in the closing minutes, but the best scoring chances the rest of the night came in overtime.
The first sudden death period featured four shots for Florida Tech and none for Florida Southern, but Tangen Billing helped keep the game tied by making three saves. She stopped Lillsjo twice, including once on a strong free kick from 30 yards less than two minutes into overtime. The junior goalkeeper finished with a career-high 10 saves in the match.
In the second overtime, it was Florida Southern that nearly ended the game on a corner kick by Moore in the 109th minute. It was one of three corners the Mocs had in the second overtime period. This one made it to the far post where Adi Alvarado got a header on goal and by Eliasdottir, but defender Brittany Rainbow stopped it, and the Panthers cleared it out to end the threat.
With the game tied, and penalty kicks needed to decide which team advanced to the SSC Championship Game, Moore went first and buried her shot to put the Mocs up 1-0. That would be the only PK the Mocs could convert, however. After Chelsea Pushman tied things up, Bachteler pushed her attempt too high for the Moccasins, and Christina Edwards then gave Florida Tech a 2-1 lead.
On the next penalty kick, Eliasdottir made the save against Alex Hoover, and Rachel Devlin converted for Florida Tech. That meant the Mocs would have to make their final two attempts and hope the Panthers missed their final two. It didn’t happen though, as Alvarado’s shot went high to end the shootout.
The Moccasins will now wait until Monday night’s announcement from the NCAA as to when and where they will be playing in the South Region Tournament. The top two seeds are given the right to host, with Rollins and West Florida holding those positions coming into the week. Rollins lost in the first round of the SSC Tournament on Tuesday, while West Florida advanced to the championship game of the Gulf South Conference Tournament with a win over Harding (AR) on Friday night.
