Box Score
LAKELAND â€" Caroline Evers brought Florida Southern back from a first-minute stunner, and Kirra Rainbow made sure the Moccasins would still have a chance to win it at the end of the game. But with second-half goals from Mackenzie Miller and Paxton Sickler, Rollins was able to hold on for a 3-2 victory at Barnett Field Wednesday night.
Rollins (9-3, 3-1 Sunshine State Conference) scored just 43 seconds into the match when Sickler’s corner kick to the back post was converted by Mora Johnson. Florida Southern came right back, however, as Evers (Valrico, Fla.) took a cross from Kristy Legoas (Palm Harbor, Fla.) out of the right corner and scored for the Moccasins with only 6:03 elapsed. It was Evers’ third goal of the season and her second in the last two games.
After two goals in the first six minutes, neither team scored again until the 64th minute when Rollins took the lead on Miller’s goal. Coming forward all the way to the 18-yard line, defender Maddie Ginder got her the ball inside the 6-yard box, where Miller stumbled and went to the ground before finding her feet again for the shot.
The Tars almost scored again in the 70th minute when Emma Jones hit the crossbar with a header off a corner kick from Sickler, and it was Jones who then set up Sickler for a goal in the 71st minute. That one came from the left side of the penalty box and was the team-high seventh of the season for Sickler.
The Moccasins (2-8-3, 1-3) weren’t yet finished and nearly cut the deficit in half in the 77th minute when Legoas got the ball inside for Erin Phillips (Geneva, Fla.) right in front of the goal. Phillips wasted no time in taking a shot, but Rollins defender Azure Dorsey was right there to block it. It was one of several plays made by Dorsey and Taylor Thigpen in the middle of the Rollins back line all throughout the night, and Ginder made a critical clearance in the second half too when Rainbow (Melbourne Beach, Fla.) sent a dangerous cross into the middle of the box with the score still knotted at one.
Rainbow eventually got the Moccasins their second goal with 3:48 remaining after a throw-in by Gianna Conte (Orange Park, Fla.). Driving in along the right end line, Rainbow blasted a ball over the head of Rollins goalkeeper Mary Spring that bounced off the bottom of the crossbar and into the net for her first goal of the season.
Rollins wasn’t content to protect its 1-goal lead though, and Kelsey Boone ripped a shot from close range less than 30 seconds later that was saved by Erin Moseley (Jacksonville, Fla.). Sickler had another go at one in the 90th minute that went wide, but Florida Southern was unable to get anything else past the Tars’ back line.
Moseley ended up with eight saves in the match, which included two inside the 6-yard box on shots by Jones and Boone. She faced 21 shots and 10 corner kicks, and center backs Alyssa Abrahamsen (Highland, N.Y.) and Christine Knudstrup (Lakeland, Fla.) were kept busy all night with balls played in from the corners.
Spring had to make only two saves for Rollins, and both came in the first half.
Florida Southern will be on the road Saturday night for its next match, taking on Saint Leo at 7:30 p.m.
