Box Score WINTER PARK – After a fairly evenly played first half that saw Rollins take a 1-0 lead into the locker room, two second-half goals by Brett Durrance allowed the Tars to take control in the second half. The result was a 3-0 win for Rollins in Florida Southern's 2014 Sunshine State Conference opener.
The early stages of the game belonged to Rollins (5-3, 1-1), which out-shot Florida Southern 7-1 in the first 30 minutes. All of those shots were quality chances too, but sophomore goalkeeper Cole Clingerman(Auburndale, Fla.) saved three of them, and the Moccasins (4-3-1, 0-1) dodged a couple of other goals when the Tars pulled shots wide of the mark from inside 18 yards. Clingerman's one-handed save against Durrance in the 29th minute was especially difficult and resulted in a corner kick for the Tars but nothing further came of it.
The Rollins goal came much earlier when a free kick was awarded 35 yards from goal in the 10th minute. Skyler Russell took the kick, sending it across the field to the back right corner of the penalty area. Durrance then sent the ball back to the far post where Sebastian Walker sent it into the roof of the goal for his second goal of the season.
After falling behind 1-0, the Moccasins found their footing in the final 15 minutes of the first half, getting a spark from sophomore Corey Mills (Wellington, New Zealand) and freshman Priit Peedo (Tartu, Estonia) off the bench. By halftime, the shot totals were nearly equal, with Rollins' 7-1 advantage shrunk down to 8-7. Mills created the two best chances for Florida Southern, sending one ball into the box for a diving header by sophomore Jonathan Radvogin (Vasteras, Sweden) that was just wide, and setting up Peedo for a shot from 15 yards that Rollins goalkeeper Julian Grundler got a hand on to push away from the goal.
In the second half, however, Rollins re-asserted itself, putting the game away with goals by Durrance in the 51st and 63rd minutes. The first of those was a header deep inside the box when the junior forward was on the receiving end of another ball played by Russell. Durrance later took a feed from Evan Greenbaum into scoring territory and again went from right to left from inside the box for his team-leading fifth goal of the season.
Just as they did in the first half, the Moccasins found room to shoot in the closing minutes of the second, and got a couple of good looks from Radvogin and freshman Carl Spansk (Mora, Sweden). Radvogin wasn't off target by much in the 82nd minute, and Spansk put a header on goal in the 84th, only to have Grundler grab the ball at the back post.
The Tars nearly scored another goal in the 87th minute when Thomas Coulter blasted one from long range, but Clingerman went high in the air to tip the ball over the crossbar. It was one of six saves for the sophomore goalkeeper, one short of his season-high set in the Mocs' 4-1 non-conference win over Barry on September 20.
Rollins finished with a 17-11 advantage in shots taken and a 7-3 edge in corner kicks.
Florida Southern will be at home on Saturday when it hosts Nova Southeastern at 7 p.m.
