Box Score
LAKELAND â€" Luke Jenner’s goal-scoring binge continued Saturday night, and Jonathan Radvogin added to his total too with his most dramatic one yet. After Jenner scored twice in regulation, Radvogin ended the game in sudden fashion with an overtime goal that gave the Moccasins a 3-2 win over Florida Tech.
Jenner, a senior midfielder from Preston, England, had scored two of Florida Southern’s five goals in a 5-1 win at Eckerd on Wednesday night for the first multi-goal game of his career. It didn’t take nearly as long for him to do it again, as he scored not one, but two game-tying goals against Florida Tech. He had one in each half before Radvogin scored his sixth goal of the season with 1:14 remaining in the first extra session, giving the Mocs their first overtime win in three years.
The game was far different than the one the same teams played 10 days earlier. In that one, a non-conference game in Melbourne, Florida Tech won 1-0, a game where the Panthers out-shot the Moccasins 12-4. The Panthers had a 15-10 advantage in shots on Saturday, but the Mocs still posted their fourth game of the season with at least three goals, and they had the only real scoring chances in overtime with Florida Tech playing a man down after a red card was shown to TJ Peplinski in the 87th minute.
Each team scored goals roughly two minutes apart late in the first half with Florida Tech (4-5-1, 1-3 Sunshine State Conference) picking up the first one, followed by Florida Southern (4-5, 2-1). Prior to that sequence there had been just six shots combined through the first 37 minutes.
The most dangerous time in the first half for FSC came in the 16th minute when Mitchell Francois (Frisco, Texas) stopped a back-and-forth combo by Forrest Fegert and Adin Kavara on the right side of the penalty area, and a shot by Fegert was then knocked out of bounds by goalkeeper Cole Clingerman (Auburndale, Fla.) after it hit the foot of defender James Gibson (Cape Coral, Fla.). The Panthers got three corner kicks out of that, but none of them resulted in a shot.
Florida Tech’s goal was scored by defender Nicolas Dreyer, who hit one from well outside the box after the Mocs had already cleared the ball once during the Panther attack. The first shot came on a corner kick from Sam Sawyer, who put it on target but it was stopped by James. When the Mocs got the ball seemingly out of danger, Dreyer sent it right back in for his first goal of the season.
The Moccasins wasted little time in evening the score as Jenner knocked one home from 6 yards after the Panthers were unable to clear a ball.
The Panthers used a throw-in by Jack Willison in the 57th minute to re-claim the lead, with the ball thrown to the back post for Drake Hillman. Into the game as a reserve at halftime, Hillman sent it home from close range for the 2-1 lead.
It took the Mocs a little bit longer this time, but they once again tied the score when Jenner slammed home a penalty kick in the 73rd minute for his fourth goal of the year. It was the second game in a row he scored from the 12-yard spot, and it came after a throw by Clay Clingerman (Auburndale, Fla.) into the box resulted in a foul against the Panthers.
The Panthers nearly went ahead yet again in the 78th minute when Adin Kavara hit a rocket from inside the box that was deflected by Cole Clingerman. Before any of the Panthers could take another shot, Andreas Hagstrom (Trangsund, Sweden) cleared it out of danger. The Mocs then went the other way with Clay Clingerman and Radvogin setting up Corey Mills (Wellington, New Zealand) for a shot, but it was deflected by a Florida Tech defender.
The Panthers threatened again in the 86th minute when Willison got the ball forward to Kavara, who in turn got it over Clingerman coming out of the net. Gibson again saved the Mocs by heading the ball over the crossbar. Kavara would hit the post in the 90th minute before the Mocs were able to get the match to overtime.
Once there, the Moccasins had the only real scoring chances by either team. Less than two minutes into overtime, Jenner nearly had a role in the game-winner when he got the ball forward to Mills, but Florida Tech goalkeeper Mitch Thorn came out to play the ball with his feet. The Mocs would eventually get two shots later in the period, and the second one came from Radvogin. Coming out of the right corner with the ball, Carlos Rodriguez (Tampa, Fla.) found Radvogin inside the box for a 10-yard shot that ended the game.
Clingerman finished with six saves for the Moccasins, while Thorn had none for the Panthers.
Florida Southern will be at home again on Wednesday night when its hosts 2nd-ranked Rollins with a 5 p.m. kickoff.
