Box Score
DAVIE â€" Senior co-captain Luke Jenner did the necessary work to send Florida Southern into the Sunshine State Conference Tournament Saturday night, before senior defender Ricky Marton and freshman goalkeeper Cole Clingerman made sure they got there with a shutout. Jenner scored the only goal of the match midway through the second half, and a late defensive stand secured the Moccasins’ 1-0 win over Nova Southeastern.
With the win, Florida Southern (5-8-1, 3-4-1) earned its first trip to the SSC Tournament since 2006. The Moccasins will go in as the #5 seed and will play at #4 seed Barry on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. The winner will advance to the tournament semifinals on Friday at the SSC regular season champion, either Rollins or Saint Leo.
Jenner scored his goal in the 67th minute on the Moccasins’ first shot of the second half. It came after two passes from sophomore Carlos Rodriguez (Tampa, Fla.) and freshman Alek Cosio (Fort Worth, Texas), with the second one coming on a short line across the top area of the penalty box. That set Jenner up for a shot inside the left post, giving the senior midfielder from Preston, England his fifth goal of the season. All five of those goals have come in conference play too, helping the Mocs to their best SSC record since the 2006 team went 3-3-2.
The shutout was the Mocs’ second of the season, but it almost didn’t happen. With two minutes remaining, Vincenzo Padula found room to maneuver in the attacking third for Nova Southeastern and had only Clingerman (Auburndale, Fla.) between himself and the goal. A split second before he could take the shot though, Marton (Naperville, Ill.) came in to pressure him and forced the shot high.
There was one remaining moment of tension to come. With time running out, and the Sharks (3-9-3, 0-7-1) pushing forward, Nicolo Brivio served a ball into the middle of the box that Clingerman, with bodies crashing into him, went high in the air to punch out toward midfield. The clock expired before the Sharks could recover the ball for another shot.
The first half saw a total of nine shots taken, with Nova Southeastern having the better of it, 5-4, though Florida Southern put three of its shots on frame compared to only one for the Sharks.
The first scoring chance didn’t come until the 20th minute when Nova midfielder Stefano Fanfoni lofted a ball into the box for Viktor Jonsson, who got behind the defense for a re-directed header that carried too far right. Florida Southern countered two minutes later, with the passing of Jonathan Radvogin (Vasteras, Sweden) and Marton leading to a shot by Rodriguez in the middle of the box, but NSU freshman goalkeeper Jo Jien Lee got a hand on it to keep it out of the net.
Clingerman made his only save of the first half, and what proved to be his only save of the match, in the 26th minute on a shot by Matthew Ilter that came from outside the box and was right at him. It wasn’t the best chance the Sharks had though. Center backs James Gibson (Cape Coral, Fla.) and Petter Allansson (Savedalen, Sweden) both made stops inside of 18 yards during the first half to prevent Nova goals.
Gibson made his in the 24th minute when Clingerman had to come a long way out to play the ball with his feet, and had it bounce away behind him. With David Robles only a step away from sending it into an empty net, Gibson recovered for the Moccasins and cleared it out of danger. Then, in the 28th minute, Austin Foor got loose in prime scoring position for the Sharks, but Allansson stepped in to block the shot.
The Sharks finished with a 12-7 advantage in shots, but were unable to break the Moccasin defense, which also got another strong outing from Patrick Abrahamsson (Frolunda, Sweden), who started on the back line with Gibson, Allansson and Marton. Clingerman had to make only one save for his second shutout, though he was kept active in the air fielding numerous crosses into the box that turned out to be harmless once in the hands of the Moccasin goalkeeper.
