Box Score BOCA RATON, Fla. – Florida Southern went head-to-head with one of the nation's top Division II teams Wednesday night and nearly pulled off one of its biggest wins. However, a goal by Jack Watson in the 39th minute held up the rest of the night and sent 5th-ranked Lynn University on to a 1-0 win over the Moccasins.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Watson scored with 6:08 remaining in the first half on a low cross to the front post from Alun Webb. It was Watson's league-leading 19th goal of the season.
- Florida Southern (6-6-1, 2-5-1 Sunshine State Conference) nearly tied the game three times in the final 10 minutes but Lynn goalkeeper Alexander Roth stopped one-on-one attempts by Rene Rivera and Jacob Ling-Vannerus in the 80th and 84th minutes. Roth then pushed a shot from Callum Carsley over the crossbar as time expired.
- The Moccasins also had shots by Ling-Vannerus and Jonathan Radvogin blocked in the final 10 minutes, as well as a corner kick with one minute remaining.
- Lynn (13-1-1, 7-1-1 Sunshine State Conference) out-shot Florida Southern 15-9, but in the final 39 minutes, the shots were even at six apiece.
- Radvogin, Rivera and Ling-Vannerus all had two of the Moccasins' nine shots.
- Florida Southern had more than twice as many corner kicks as Lynn with a 7-3 advantage.
- Roth and Florida Southern's Cole Clingerman each made three saves in the game.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
- The two sides have now split 1-0 decisions over the last two years with the Moccasins winning last year in Lakeland.
- Five of Florida Southern's losses this year have been by 1-0 or 2-1 scores, and three of those have been to teams that are ranked in the top five of the South Region poll. Lynn was #1 coming into Wednesday night's game and #5 in the country.
- It's the second year in a row the Moccasins have gone on the road to play a team ranked #5 nationally. Last year they traveled to Georgia and nearly upset Young Harris before falling 2-1.
- Lynn is the second national top-10 team the Mocs have played this year. On September 28, they dropped a 2-1 decision at #7 Tampa.
- With his 54th career start on Wednesday night, senior Cole Clingerman has now started more games than any other goalkeeper in team history. He surpassed Clint Harris who started 53 from 2002-05. Harris has still played one more game between the posts than Clingerman with 55 total appearances, and Tim Moore played in a total of 58 games (50 starts) as a goalkeeper from 1985-88.
- Clingerman needs four more saves to tie and five more to pass Shawn Corgan for third on that list. Corgan stopped 237 shots from 1992-93.
UP NEXT
- Florida Southern will wrap up the 2016 season at home on Saturday night with another makeup game against Barry University. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Barnett Field, and the Moccasins will be honoring their six seniors that night.
