Box Score
LAKELAND â€" Ryan Sniegoski got his first win as a head coach three weeks ago. Saturday night against #11 Tampa, he got what could only be called his first big win. With junior Mitchell Francois, and freshmen Corey Mills and Jonathan Radvogin all scoring goals in the second half, the Moccasins handed the Spartans their first defeat of the year, and came away with a 3-0 win of their own.
The win was Florida Southern’s first over Tampa (3-1-2) since 2006 and marked only the third time in 41 meetings they shut out the Spartans. The Moccasins (2-3) out-shot the Spartans 14-11, and got five saves from freshman goalkeeper Cole Clingerman (Auburndale, Fla.), who posted his first career shutout.
After a first half that saw only eight shots taken (five by Tampa, three by Florida Southern), the game opened up when Tampa’s Kody Thomas was sent off in the 49th minute. It was just over a minute later that Florida Southern scored its first goal on a counter-attack, with Radvogin taken down in the box for a penalty kick. Francois (Frisco, TX) converted the 12-yard spot shot for the Moccasins, giving them a 1-0 lead.
In the 72nd minute, the Moccasins again reached the Tampa penalty area when Adam Hansjons (Upplands Vasby, Sweden) fired off a shot at point blank range that was stopped by UT goalkeeper David Niepel. Mills, however, was there for the rebound and knocked a follow-up shot into the net for his first goal of the season.
Mills (Wellington, New Zealand) would help the Moccasins score again in the 84th minute, this time with a free kick. It was beautifully served from the left sideline into the six-yard box where Radvogin (Vasteras, Sweden) slipped in to finish it for his team-leading fifth goal of 2013.
Freshman Nico Guevara (Weston, Fla.) was in the middle of the action too throughout the second half. Though he didn’t score, he was a steady threat in the attacking third, and nearly got the Mocs another goal in the 61st minute. He had to contend with Naysir Rodriguez though at the top of the box, and his slow roller toward the right post carried too far. On two other occasions he forced Niepel to come out to the top of the box to field a long punt by Clingerman before Guevara could get under it for a shot.
In truth, the Moccasins began to assert themselves even in the first half. Three times in the final seven minutes, the Mocs put the Spartans under pressure, but couldn’t quite break through. A free kick by Carlos Rodriguez (Tampa, Fla.) gave Alexi Cortez (Largo, Fla.) a header inside the box, and Cortez would then play one long to Mills across the field but had it broken up by Andrew Clare before a shot could be taken.
Two minutes before halftime, Alexander Garcia (Caracas, Venezuela) fed Radvogin the ball down the right flank, but the resulting cross into the middle of the area went through with the Mocs unable to play it and the Spartans dodging a bullet.
Earlier in the match they dodged another one when Francois hit the crossbar, and Tampa’s Dorado Phipps hit the bar in the second half when it was still a 1-0 game.
Defensively, the Moccasins were solid all night, and enjoyed another strong performance from junior Clay Clingerman (Auburndale, Fla.) who was a major force in his brother’s shutout effort. James Gibson (Cape Coral, Fla.) and Petter Allansson (Savedalen, Sweden) were strong in the middle too, as was Simmule Turner (Soutlake, TX) on the opposite side of Clingerman. The midfield line, which got a workmanlike effort from Luke Jenner (Preston, England), did its part as well. Collectively, they held Tampa’s Tyler Blackwood, the 2012 Sunshine State Conference Player-of-the-Year to only two shots, one of them a line drive free kick in the 56th minute that was saved.
Florida Southern will be on the road for another non-conference match Wednesday at Florida Tech, with kickoff scheduled for 5 p.m.
