Box Score
LAKELAND â€" Florida Southern and Barry were dead even in shots, and dead even in scoring chances, in a game that was pretty much even throughout. The Buccaneers, however, used a goal in the 66th minute, and a goal line stand of sorts as time expired to pull out a 1-0 win over the Moccasins in the teams’ first Sunshine State Conference match of the season.
The only goal of the night came from reserve midfielder Mumbi Kwesele, who got a shot from the right wing over the head of goalkeeper Cole Clingerman (Auburndale, Fla.) for his second goal of the season. It was set up by the passing of Patrick Drmola and Joong Kim in the right corner of the field. It was the third year in a row that Kim played a key role in a tight game against the Moccasins, and he helped spoil a fabulous night for the Florida Southern defense.
The Moccasins (2-5, 0-1) limited the Buccaneers (4-5-1, 1-0) to only eight shots in the match, but suffered their second straight 1-0 defeat. Florida Southern also had just eight shots against Barry’s back line, and the game was so level that each team took four in each half. The Bucs also had a narrow 9-8 edge in corner kicks, and it was a corner kick in the closing seconds that nearly leveled the score as well.
Barry had been whistled for a foul just across the center stripe with 35 seconds remaining and the clock was stopped when the Bucs attempted to stall. The Mocs put everyone forward, with Clingerman coming all the way out to take the free kick. In a play reminiscent of an end-of-game Hail Mary in American football, the Mocs came out ahead when the ball went off a Barry player and over the end line for a corner kick.
Adam Hansjons (Upplands Vasby, Sweden) sent it into the box as time continued to wind down, and after briefly bouncing around in a sea of players, the ball ended up at the feet of defender James Gibson (Cape Coral, Fla.). Gibson didn’t have much room to shoot, but he did get the ball across to Jonathan Radvogin (Vasteras, Sweden). Under heavy pressure from behind, Radvogin was unable to maneuver for a shot as time expired.
Earlier in the night, Radvogin nearly put the Mocs ahead in the 17th minute when the freshman ripped a shot from 35 yards out that slammed hard into the left post. He was also corralled by Shaun Herselman and Pablo Georgakopoulos on two other first-half plays when he was on the verge of taking potentially deadly shots from the top of the box.
Georgakopoulos also stopped a long run by Clay Clingerman (Auburndale, Fla.) into the box on one other occasion in the first half, and a service by Simmule Turner (Southlake, Texas) into the 6-yard box was perhaps an inch too high for the head of Radvogin in attack mode.
The Moccasins had two good opportunities early in the second half too. One came on a corner kick with Radvogin sending a header over the bar, and the other came from Corey Mills (Wellington, New Zealand), who was set up nicely by a cross-field pass from Alexi Cortez (Largo, Fla.). That forced Barry goalkeeper Johnny Rodrigues into action for one of his three saves in the game, with all of them coming in the second half.
After the Bucs had scored, the Mocs had at least two quality chances to tie the game, but one was stopped by Rodrigues and the other by Drmola dropping back on defense. Rodrigues saved a shot by Hansjons from deep inside the area in the 78th minute, and Drmola broke up a counter-attack by the Mocs when Hansjons played a ball forward to Radvogin going to goal.
Goalkeeper Cole Clingerman helped keep the game tight too by making five saves, and both he and the Moccasins were tested several times by the serving of Herselman and Ryan King. Against that combination, Clingerman was forced to punch out just as many balls as he saved. He was also forced into a difficult save early in the match when King’s cross into Thomas Coombes was placed right in front of the net. The shot headed low and toward the far post was snared by Clingerman though, or the Bucs might have had a lead much earlier.
Florida Southern will be on the road for its next match, travelling to St. Petersburg on Wednesday night for a 7 p.m. kickoff at Eckerd.
