LAKELAND - The Moccasins won't be home for long, but at least they gave their fans something to remember. Receiving goals from four different players, assists from three others, and out-shooting the Tritons 32-2, Florida Southern's only game at Barnett Field the first half of the season ended with a 4-0 win over Eckerd College.
Florida Southern (4-0-1, 1-0 Sunshine State Conference) set the tone early when Princess Haley hit the crossbar with a shot just 45 seconds into the game. It was one of 11 shots for Haley on the night, tying a school record that was set twice in 2000. The senior forward ended up with one of Florida Southern's goals Wednesday night, and Jessica Giblin, Kerri-Ann Brown and Adi Alvarado also scored. There could have been more, and there were certainly plenty of chances, but Eckerd goalkeeper Kelly Zahorski kept several other shots out of the net with 11 saves.
Giblin scored Florida Southern's first goal of the night at the 16-minute mark after midfielder Emily Griffith dribbled unmolested from near the midfield stripe nearly into the Eckerd penalty box. She eventually laid the ball off for Giblin, who hit a shot inside the left post for the first goal of her college career. It was one of several scoring chances set up by Griffith in the first half, and she nearly scored one herself a few minutes later but was denied by Zahorski.
The Moccasins picked up goal number two in the 37th minute when Zahorski stopped a shot at close range by Haley, only to have Brown knock in the rebound for her second goal of the season. Brown had started the scoring play by sending the ball wide to Alyssa Abrahamsen, who sent it back into the middle for Haley's initial shot.
Despite contstant pressure by the Moccasins, the score remained 2-0 until the 73rd minute when the Tritons (1-4, 0-1) were whistled for a hand ball in the box to give Florida Southern a penalty kick. Again Zahorski came up big for the Tritons by stopping it, but again the Mocs were quickly on the loose ball and Haley put it in the net anyway for goal number four on the season.
The scoring ended in the 86th minute when right back Sydney O'Hair dropped a long cross from the sideline right into the middle of the box for Adi Alvarado, who finished the play by bouncing a shot off the bottom of the crossbar and into the net.
Eckerd's only two shots came from midfielder Nicole Davis, and both were from well outside the box. The two shots were the fewest allowed by the Moccasins since they gave up none to Eckerd in 2008. The Mocs used a variety of players in the back on Wednesday, including the usual starting quartet of Ashlie Haas, Morgan Sammons, Lexie Bottomley and Kristen Vollmer. O'Hair and Anna Ott also saw significant time in the Mocs' second shutout of the season. It was the fourth year in a row Florida Southern shut out the Tritons.
Florida Southern will play two games this weekend in Texas, facing Abilene Christian on Saturday at 11:00 a.m. central time, and Texas A&M-Commerce on Sunday at noon, also central time.
