Box Score
LAKELAND â€" Sarah Goolsby helped change the complexion of the game early Saturday night, Caroline Evers did so somewhere in the middle, and Erin Moseley made sure it counted for a win just a little bit later. While Goolsby and Evers did the scoring for Florida Southern, Moseley stopped a potentially damaging penalty kick in the final 15 minutes that allowed the Moccasins to defeat Florida Tech, 2-0.
Goolsby scored in the 13th minute by connecting on a header off a beautiful cross out of the right corner from Kristy Legoas (Palm Harbor, Fla.). It was the first goal of the season for Goolsby, a sophomore midfielder from Richmond Hill, Georgia, who had three goals last year as a freshman. It was also one of four shots taken by the Moccasins in the first 18 minutes, and all of them were on frame.
Overall in the first half, the Moccasins (2-7-3, 1-2 Sunshine State Conference) out-shot the Panthers 9-4, nearly matching their total from the entire game when the two sides met in Melbourne 10 days earlier. That non-conference match was won by Florida Tech, 2-0, but Florida Southern turned that score around Saturday in the 12th meeting between them in the last six years. In none of them has the winning team scored more than two goals, and only once in those 12 encounters have there been as many as three goals combined.
The Moccasins though, nearly reached that total by themselves in the first half. Thanks to sharp ball work by Jackie Metz (Vero Beach, Fla.), Erin Phillips (Geneva, Fla.), and Margot Chowansky (Califon, N.J.), midfielder Kara Moore (Fleming Island, Fla.) was able to hit a low line drive from just outside the box in the 38th minute that forced goalkeeper Julia Kantor into a diving save. Moore then returned the favor to Phillips in the 41st minute, but Kantor came off her line to disrupt the play, and Phillips was unable to reach the ball again before it crossed over the end line.
It took a sliding stop by Brittany Comeau to break up a similar play early in the second half when Moore got the ball forward to Kirra Rainbow (Melbourne Beach, Fla.), but the Mocs did get their second goal in the 59th minute, and it was Moore again who set up that opportunity. This time she connected with Evers (Valrico, Fla.) going to goal on the right side of the 18-yard box, giving the Mocs a 2-0 lead against a team that had allowed only seven goals in the first nine games, and only two in the last six games.
The match was far from over, and when Aubri Williamson was brought down in the penalty box in the 77th minute, the Panthers (6-4, 1-3) had a chance to get back in it. Williamson took the penalty kick, but Moseley stopped it, the second year in a row the junior from Jacksonville has saved a penalty kick against Florida Tech, and the third year in a row that a Moccasin goalkeeper has done so against the Panthers.
That wasn’t the only big play made in the back by a member of the Moccasins. During one counter-attack sequence, Christine Knudstrup (Lakeland, Fla.) and Alyssa Abrahamsen (Highland, N.Y.) took turns thwarting the Panthers when they tried to penetrate the box, and Metz headed away a dangerous ball in the 81st minute when Williamson had another chance to score. Abrahamsen then made her biggest play of the night in the 88th minute when she cleared a ball off the line after it had been bouncing around from a corner kick.
Moseley finally had her third shutout of the season when she grabbed a free kick played into the box by Stephanie Langenberg with 40 seconds to play, and the Mocs were able to run out the clock.
Moseley ended up with five saves in the match, and Kantor made five for Florida Tech.
Florida Southern will be at home again on Wednesday night at 7:30 p.m., when it hosts #14 Rollins.
