Box Score MELBOURNE – For 89 minutes, it looked like Florida Southern was going to post its fourth consecutive shutout, but the host Florida Tech Panthers scored two goals in the final minute to tie the Moccasins 2-2 in double overtime in Sunshine State Conference play here Saturday at Rick Stottler Field on the FIT campus.
Florida Southern took a quick 1-0 lead just over five minutes into the match when Edward Spansk weaved though the Panther defense and took a low shot just outside the box for the goal. It was Spansk's second goal of the season. Exactly four minutes later, Alexi Cortez scored on a header after a looping cross hit the post and bounced in front of the goal mouth. It was also the second goal of the year for Cortez.
Florida Tech mounted its last minute flurry scoring its first goal with 52 seconds left on a header by Stian Tsesmetsis to cut the lead to 2-1. The game-tying goal came after a long punt to midfield by Moccasin keeper Cole Clingerman that eventually was controlled by the Panthers with Adin Kavara taking a shot past Clingerman to hit the back of the net with 3.7 second left and send the match into overtime.
Both teams had good chances in the first overtime. Less than a minute into the extra time, Trey Collins took the ball down the left side and passed off to Kavara who knocked a shot into the goal for what appeared to be the game-winner, but was whistled offside, disallowing the goal. The Moccasins' Jonathan Radvogin the fired a shot in the closing seconds of the first overtime that was just high of the crossbar, resulting in a second overtime period.
Florida Tech (4-4-2, 2-2-2 SSC) outshot the Moccasins' 19-10 with nine shots on goal as Clingerman recorded seven saves for Florida Southern. Cortez took six of the Moccasins' shots while Radvogin had three of his own. Both players had three of their shots on goal. The Moccasins (5-7-1, 3-3-1 SSC) won the corner-kick battle 9-6.
Florida Southern was able to extend its scoreless minute streak by the defense to just under 364, making it the fourth longest streak in team history, and the longest in 13 years. It was also the fourth longest for an individual Moccasin goalkeeper, and the longest since Marcus Larsson set the school record of 521:34 spanning the 2000 and 2001 seasons.
Florida Southern concludes its regular season at home on Saturday, Oct. 24, at 7 pm against Saint Leo. Prior to the game, the Moccasins will recognize their two senior players – Alexi Cortez and Andreas Hagstrom.
