LAURINBURG, NC â€" Florida Southern hasn’t had a game like this in a while, and with young players like Brad Hunt, Jovaughn Howard and Viktor Bakkioui, there might be a couple of more down the road. Hunt and Howard each scored two goals, and Bakkioui had one goal and two assists as the Moccasins improved to 2-0 with a 6-1 win over St. Andrews Presbyterian.
The Moccasins led 1-0 at halftime before exploding for five goals in the second half. Hunt played a role in three of them, assisting Givi Kokaia in the 57th minute to give them a 2-0 lead, and then scoring the next two goals in quick succession to give Florida Southern complete control of the game. The sophomore scored those goals came in the 62nd and 64th minutes, and both were assisted by Bakkioui.
Howard, another Moccasin sophomore, then scored Florida Southern’s final two goals, the last one coming off a long kick from backup goalkeeper Charlie Craig in the final minute of the game. It gave Florida Southern six goals in a match for the first time since a 6-1 win over Florida Tech in 2005.
On Saturday, Florida Southern threatened right away when a header by Zach Hofstetter went wide in the first minute, and another shot by Hofstetter was saved shortly thereafter. The Knights then got off five shots in the span of eight minutes, but Moccasin goalkeeper Johan Jonsson saved three of them and another was stopped by defender Ryan Arndt.
Florida Southern was able to break the deadlock when Hofstetter fed Bakkioui for a break-away goal in the 31st minute. It was the second game in a row the freshman forward put the Mocs on the board first, helping him to two goals and three assists in the first two games of his career.
In the second half, the Mocs again came out strong, testing St. Andrews with three shots in the first 2½ minutes. They eventually got their second goal of the day when a long cross from Hunt on the left flank gave Kokaia a one-touch shot inside the box. That opened the flood-gates for Florida Southern, with Hunt then scoring at 61:19 and 63:04.
After Howard had given the Mocs a 5-0 lead in the 81st minute, St. Andrews broke up the shutout when Alex Smith headed in a free kick from A.J. Roberts with 8:07 remaining.
The Moccasins out-shot the Knights 21-9, and forced St. Andrews goalkeeper Andrew Pelfrey into eight saves. Jonsson had three saves for Florida Southern before being lifted in the 80th minute.
Florida Southern returns to Lakeland for its first home game of the season on Tuesday night against Clearwater Christian. Kickoff is 7:00 p.m.
