Box Score LAKELAND – After an uneventful first half, Florida Southern and Palm Beach Atlantic both exploded for three goals in the second half en route to a 3-3 tie at Barnett Field on Saturday night.
In the first half, both teams were at a stalemate as they combined for just nine shots; and while Palm Beach Atlantic (5-1-2) had more shots with six, Florida Southern (4-2-1) had better chances with two of its three shots being on goal. PBA's best chance in the half came in the 29th minute when a pair of shots in succession from Cameron Roberts first hit the post before going wide right from inside of the box.
The game would open up on both ends of the field, as well as having tensions start to run high on both sides in the final 45 minutes of regulation. In the 51st minute, sophomore Jonathan Radvogin (Vasteras, Sweden) put the Moccasins on the board with his team-leading third goal of the season after fellow sophomore Alek Cosio (Fort Worth, Texas) crossed the ball from the right corner after it was nudged to him off a corner kick from freshman Kieran Whitehead (Worcester, England). Just three minutes later, sophomore Corey Mills (Wellington, New Zealand) would add his contribution by buring a rebound off of Radvogin's initial shot that was saved by PBA goalie Steeven Raymont.
The Mocs would get a scare in the 58th minute when Eddy Milien would work his way one-on-one with sophomore goalkeeper Cole Clingerman (Auburndale, Fla.) from about 8-yards out, but Clingerman was able to make a sliding stop to preserve the 2-0 lead for the time being. In the 65th minute, however, Milien would cross the ball from the left to the back post for a tap-in goal by Jermaine Metz to give the Sailfish some life. They would tie the game in the 78th minute, and take a 3-2 lead in the 82nd minute after a hard takedown of Steven Fiema led to PBA's fourth penalty kick of the season.
At this point, it would have been very easy to just let the final eight minutes of the game run off the clock and take the loss, but the Mocs are proving they are a more resilient bunch than that. 24 seconds after PBA took the lead, FSC countered as Radvogin carried the ball down the right side and passed it to the top of the box where freshman Edward Spansk (Mora, Sweden) ripped a shot through Raymont's five-hole to send the game into overtime. Whitehead had a chance to be the hero in the 86th minute when he slipped behind the defense and had Raymond down on the ground, but was unable to chip the ball into the net and it was cleared away by the Sailfish defense.
In the half, the number of cards issued matched the number of goals scored; six. FSC's Whitehead, Clay Clingerman (Auburndale, Fla.), and Cosio all earned cautions. For PBA, Tom Gavin had already earned a caution prior to squirting the referee with water after leaving the game due to Cosio's caution and earning an early exit before Michael O'Sullivan earned his caution in the 89th minute.
The Sailfish had their chances in the two overtime periods to come out of this game with a victory, but were unable to capitalize as a Radvogin caution led to a 25-yard free kick that Daniel Pena fired off the post in the first overtime and a cross from Metz on the right left the entire net open for Milien who was unable to get a piece of the ball.
Florida Southern opens conference play on Wednesday, October 1 as it travels up to Winter Park for a match against Rollins (4-3, 0-1 SSC) that will kick off at 4:30 p.m.
