Box Score
WINTER PARK â€" Florida Southern’s postseason hopes came to an end Friday in the semifinals of the Sunshine State Conference Tournament. The 2nd-seeded and 23rd-ranked Tampa Spartans scored two goals in the span of two minutes midway through the first half, and added a final goal late in the second to deal the 3rd-seeded Moccasins a 3-0 defeat.
The two teams had played to a 1-1 tie in Lakeland on October 20, with Florida Southern scoring first. It’s the only goal the Spartans have allowed in their last six games, and the closest any team has come to beating the Spartans in the last month. Tampa (13-3-3) is now 5-0-3 in its last eight games, with the other two draws ending in scoreless ties.
On Friday, the Spartans out-shot the Moccasins 16-4, with Lauren Moore scoring two goals, and Courtney Peffley adding one goal and one assist. Peffley also helped prevent a goal in the second half when Florida Southern was threating to cut into a 2-0 Tampa lead. In goal, Moseley made five saves for the Mocs, while Kori Butterfield had to make only one for the Spartans.
Tampa maintained possession for nearly all of the first 10 minutes before the game evened out and Florida Southern became the aggressor. Even with the early disparity in possession, the Moccasins still gave up only two shots, coming fairly close together when Gabby Russo lined one right at Moseley in the seventh minute, and Peffley hit the crossbar in the eighth.
The Moccasins put together their first threat shortly after that when the Spartans gave them a free kick at the top left corner of the box. Kara Moore hit her shot through the defense, and when Butterfield had trouble handling the low line drive, it carried over the end line for a corner kick. Moore took that one as well and found Sarah Goolsby in good position, but her shot was partially blocked and went over the top of the goal. A second corner kick went for naught before the Mocs lost possession on an offside call.
For a long stretch after that, neither side could gain an edge, but the Mocs almost took advantage of miscommunication by the Spartans to score in the 18th minute. The play resulted in Goolsby winning the ball in the right corner with Butterfield out of the net, but UT defender Candice Shields prevented it from turning into a goal when she headed Goolsby’s cross out of danger.
The Spartans re-asserted themselves in the 27th minute when they scored their first goal. It came from Peffley, who took a cross out of the right corner from Jenny Karl directly in front of the net and knocked it home for her fifth goal of the season. A little over two minutes later, they went up 2-0 when Moore bounced a shot from the right side of the box off the left post for her league-leading 16th goal.
Tampa was unable to add to its lead the remainder of the first half thanks to two saves by Moseley in the final 15 minutes, and a clearance by Brooke Williams when Moseley was unable to make a play on another ball. The Spartans then held that 2-0 lead throughout most of the second half as they pushed the Mocs back time and time again.
One of the second-half scoring chances by Florida Southern came in the 51st minute when Kirra Rainbow worked her way into the left side of the box, with Butterfield coming out to cut off the angle. Rainbow got the shot off, but Butterfield got enough of the ball to slow it down on its way to the goal. That left enough time for Peffley to come in from the opposite side and clear it away.
Florida Southern threatened again in the 67th minute after Danielle Hancock gave the Mocs a free kick when she was taken down on the dribble at the top right corner of the box. Moore sent the ball into the box where it briefly bounced around before Alyssa Abrahamsen got a shot off that sailed too high.
Tampa then put the game away in the 80th minute on Moore’s second goal of the game. This one came on a corner kick from Peffley, with Moore driving in a header at the back post.
The loss in the conference semifinals brought Florida Southern’s first season under head coach Brittany Jones to a close with a 6-8-4 record. The Moccasins finished third in the SSC regular season standings and were ranked as high as #6 in the NCAA Division II South Region poll. They lose just three seniors and only one starter (defender Morgan Sammons), and are scheduled to return 21 players overall.
