Overtime Again: This One Ends in a Draw as Moccasins Tie St. Thomas 1-1

MIAMI GARDENS â€" Two games into the season, Florida Southern has already played two overtime games, but the second one came to an end before it was really finished. After coming from behind in the second half for the second game in a row, the Moccasins’ match at St. Thomas was halted late in the first overtime period by lightning and called shortly thereafter, resulting in a 1-1 tie.

The Moccasins (0-1-1) opened the season with a 2-1, double overtime loss to 18th-ranked Coker last Thursday, allowing the Cobras to score first before Ashley Holmes tied the match with a second-half penalty kick. Tuesday’s match followed a similar script, with Holmes again providing the game-tying goal with a second half penalty kick. In overtime though, lightning stopped play with 2:27 on the clock, and after a brief delay, the coaches agreed to end the game where it was. The Bobcats’ home field does not have lights and with more lightning in the area, it was doubtful play could be resumed after the mandatory minimum wait time of 30 minutes.

“St. Thomas is always a tough place to play,” said FSC head coach Hugh Seyfarth. “The field is a little small and doesn’t allow us to set up our type of play. We’ll take the draw but of course I’d rather have the win.”

The Bobcats (0-1-1) scored their goal in the 23rd minute when midfielder Guillermo Huaman pushed the ball through to Jhonathan Rico in the box, and the senior forward slipped a shot just inside the far post. It was one of only four shots allowed by the Moccasins in the first half, who got a marvelous effort from their starting back line of Holmes, Niklas Davidsson, Petter Allansson and Ricky Marton. James Gibson also stepped in and had another impressive outing off the bench.

Davidsson made one of the biggest plays of the game just before the Bobcats were able to take the lead. With the ball played into the left corner, FSC goalkeeper Andres Guzman was forced to come all the way out to the edge of the box to make a play, but was beaten to the ball by Huaman, who got it to Rico in position for the shot. With Guzman still out of the net, Rico got a shot off, only to have it saved by Davidsson at the back post.

Davidsson made another big play in the second half when the freshman defender helped create the penalty kick for Holmes. Davidsson’s long cross-field pass set up a run by Clay Clingerman into the box, but Clingerman was fouled going to goal before he could take a shot. Holmes gave Florida Southern the goal anyway by converting from the penalty spot for the second game in a row.

The Moccasins survived a late surge by the Bobcats, who got seven shots in the final 20 minutes after being held to just seven in the first 70. Guzman came up with two big saves during the stretch, and the Mocs escaped a corner kick that resulted in a shot off the crossbar and a follow-up header that went just wide in the 77th minute. The Bobcats also had a free kick from just outside the box in the closing seconds but nearly ran out of time before they could take it. The rushed attempt was blocked near the post, sending the game to overtime.

Once there, Florida Southern had the only two shots before the game was stopped.

“Early in the game I thought our shape was good, we were competing well, and it was just a good back-and-forth game,” said Seyfarth. “We lost some focus though, gave up a goal, and didn’t have the energy and intensity for a while after that. We were able to re-energize though at halftime and played a little bit better after that, but still not up to our ability.”

“I hope we learned a lesson though about match preparation before a big regional weekend against Young Harris and West Florida, and hopefully we’ll have some injured guys back as well.”

The first game of the Mocs’ trip to Pensacola will be Friday at 2:30 against Young Harris.