Box Score
LAKELAND â€" The scoring chances were nearly even Tuesday night, but while Florida Southern was unable to capitalize on its opportunities, Embry-Riddle did. The Eagles scored two goals in each half, and Nils Carlson made seven saves, as the Moccasins fell 4-0 in their second game of the season.
The Eagles (2-1) only had a 17-15 advantage in shots, and the Moccasins (1-1) had nine corner kicks to the Eagles’ four, but two goals in the first 10 minutes allowed Embry-Riddle to take control of the game early. Carlson kept the Mocs from ever threatening that 2-0 lead with several quality saves, and the Mocs missed a handful of other chances by perhaps a step here, or a step there.
Embry-Riddle’s first goal came at the 3:31 mark on a play that looked to be dead in the box. Magnus Magnusson, who was a strong presence all night for the Eagles, had sent a cross deep across the box for Nicklas Petersson that appeared to be corralled by FSC goalkeeper Cole Clingerman (Auburndale, Fla.). The ball squirted free, however, and Petersson re-gained possession for the Eagles before firing it into an empty net for a 1-0 lead.
Two minutes later the Mocs nearly equalized when Luke Jenner (Preston, England) set up Jonathan Radvogin (Vasteras, Sweden) for a 1-on-1 battle with Carlson. When Radvogin tried to dribble around Carlson, the Embry-Riddle goalkeeper knocked the ball away and then saved a quick follow-up shot by Nico Guevara (Weston, Fla.).
Having dodged a bullet, the Eagles made it 2-0 in the 11th minute when center back Alan Vezza played a ball forward for fellow defender Ally MacDonald, who ran on to it and chipped a shot over Clingerman for the goal.
Momentum swung back in favor of the Moccasins after that, but Carlson twice denied Corey Mills (Wellington, New Zealand) from inside the box, and the Eagles also survived three corner kicks in the span of a minute. The last of those resulted in a header by Jenner that ran just wide of the mark. Mills then put one over the bar in the 30th minute in the run of play, with Jenner, Carlos Rodriguez (Tampa, Fla.) and Radvogin all involved in the build-up.
The Mocs applied even more pressure in the early stages of the second half, but the Eagles repeatedly cleared the ball out of their own box to preserve their lead. The Mocs were inches away from scoring in the 52nd minute when a cross from Radvogin skimmed off the head of Ricky Marton (Naperville, Ill.) running to goal.
The Eagles opened up a little more breathing room in the 64th minute when Petersson tallied his second goal of the night after an assist from MacDonald coming out of the back. MacDonald nearly assisted another goal in the 69th minute, but Clingerman made an athletic save by coming back across the net to stop a shot by Marcus Starke. It was one of five saves in the match for the Mocs’ freshman goalkeeper.
MacDonald later hit the post in the 78th minute before Viktor Gudnason blasted home a shot from 25 yards in the 88th minute to end the scoring.
Florida Southern will play its next match Saturday night when it hosts Saint Leo University in a non-conference game at 7 p.m.
