Moore's Header in Closing Minutes Lifts Moccasins to 2-1 Win Over Embry-Riddle in Men's Soccer

AUBURNDALE, FL – Daniel Moore's header off a free kick in the 87^th minute snapped a 1-1 tie after Rene Rivera had tied the match midway through the first half, lifting Florida Southern to a 2-1 win over Embry-Riddle Saturday night.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Embry-Riddle (1-7-1, 0-6-1 Sunshine State Conference) scored the first goal of the night, which also came after a free kick. The initial shot taken by Teddy West was blocked by the Florida Southern wall just outside the box, and the ball caromed over to Cole Tepper, who sent it across the field to the left side of the box. It dropped in perfectly for Tim-Frederik Lange who struck his shot that was re-directed by the foot of a Moccasin defender into the far side of the net for the goal.
• Florida Southern (6-3, 4-2) tied the game in the 27^th minute on Rivera's fourth goal of the year. He was set up by Hinrik Atli Smarason, who got him the ball in the attacking third. Working his way across the middle of the field, Rivera found enough room to shoot and converted for the equalizer. It marks the second year in a row he has scored against the Eagles.
• The score remained 1-1 until play was stopped with 3:37 remaining to assess a yellow card, which gave Florida Southern a free kick just off the sideline on the left side of the field facing the goal. Christoph Gums took the kick, sending it into the box where Moore got a head on it to push it into the net for his first goal of the season.
• The Moccasins had to clear an Embry-Riddle corner kick in the 88^th minute, but did so without incident and held the Eagles without a shot the rest of the way.
• Florida Southern out-shot Embry-Riddle 19-9, though the first 10 minutes of the match were extremely quiet. Neither team took a shot, had a corner kick, or was even whistled for a foul during that time. The Mocs then had a corner in the 11^th minute, and nearly scored first in the 14^th minute when Dani Morillo put one over the bar from close range.
• After Rivera had tied the game, it took a spectacular save by Embry-Riddle goalkeeper Richard Dearle to keep it that way as he robbed Romain Voirin of a goal in the 32nd minute. Voirin nearly got on the board again in the 38^th minute after a nice feed from Edward Spansk, but was wide right, and Moore followed shortly thereafter with a header off a corner kick that also carried to the right, completing a strong sequence by the Moccasins.
• The Eagles had been shut down following their goal, but forced Benny Yusufoglu to come out in the 42^nd minute to punch a dangerous cross by Toby Cassidy out of danger, with Lange running into the box. Defender Andrew Grimmer then stopped a shot by Alfonso Martins in the 44^th minute to send the game to the half still tied at one.
• Both Dearle and Yusufoglu had to make saves in the 47^th minute, and in the span of roughly 45 seconds soon after that, the Mocs found themselves under pressure with two Embry-Riddle shots and two corner kicks. Then it was the Mocs' turn in the 52^nd and 53^rd minutes with three consecutive corner kicks that also resulted in no goals being scored.
• With the game still tied in the 81^st minute, Embry-Riddle's Daniel Gylfason nearly broke the deadlock after a run into the box, but pulled his shot to the left.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

• The Moccasins put 11 of their 19 shots on target, which resulted in nine saves for Dearle. Earlier this year against Lynn, he stopped 11 shots, which remains the highest single-game save total in the SSC this year. Yusufoglu had three saves for Florida Southern.
• Rivera had five shots for Florida Southern and Voirin had four.
• Moore is the 12^th different player to score for Florida Southern this year. Only Palm Beach Atlantic in the SSC has had more with 13. It was the second career goal for the redshirt junior center back.
• In addition to their 19 shots, the Moccasins had a 9-6 advantage in corner kicks.
• The four conference wins for Florida Southern are the most since the Mocs went 4-3 in 2000, when the league still had only eight schools (prior to Nova Southeastern, Embry-Riddle and Palm Beach Atlantic joining). Until this year, that had been the only year in which the Mocs had ever won four SSC games.
• Florida Southern is now 15-7-1 all-time against Embry-Riddle and have won three straight in the series.

UP NEXT

Florida Southern will be on the road Wednesday night in St. Petersburg to take on Eckerd College at 7 p.m.