Sailfish Score Late as Men's Soccer Team Falls to 3rd-Ranked Palm Beach Atlantic, 1-0

AUBURNDALE, FL – Cleef Desir's goal in the 82^nd minute broke a scoreless tie as Florida Southern fell to 3^rd-ranked Palm Beach Atlantic 1-0 Saturday night.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Playing their highest ranked opponent in four years, the Moccasins (7-4, 5-3 Sunshine State Conference) kept the Sailfish (12-0-2, 7-0-1) off the scoreboard until their final shot of the game at the 81:16 mark. It came from Desir, who took a centering pass from Jerry Saint-Vil out of the left corner and connected for his sixth goal of the season.
• The Moccasins had two opportunities to tie the score after that, but the Sailfish survived both of them to remain undefeated with their eighth consecutive shutout. Andrew Grimmer put a shot from inside the box high in the 88th minute, and a well-placed cross by Rene Rivera was a step out of reach while moving across the goal mouth in the 90th minute.
• Palm Beach Atlantic out-shot Florida Southern 6-2 in the first half, and all of those shots by both teams were strong scoring chances. The best came from PBA's Charlie Dennis who hit the crossbar from the right side of the box, with the ball bouncing in the direction of Fredo Dilbert alone at the far post. It came off too hard though for Dilbert to control it and the Mocs escaped the situation without conceding.
• Just prior to that, the Sailfish had another good look from inside the box, but Daniel Moore blocked a shot by Gabriel Saroli.
• The Mocs' first chance came in the 16^th minute after a corner kick when Romain Voirin was able to send a ball across the box that just skimmed off the top of Grimmer's head.
• The only save either goalkeeper had to make in the first 45 minutes came from Elliott Barker of PBA roughly a minute after the corner kick by Voirin. Working the ball through Jake Starling on the right wing and Rene Rivera in the middle, the Mocs got it inside the box for James Smith, who never hesitated taking the shot, but his hard volley was stopped at close range by Barker.
• After not having to make a save in the first half, Benny Yusufoglu was tested three times in the first six minutes of the second. After a shot by Charlie Dennis was deflected for a corner kick, Yusufoglu had to stop a header by Callum Page-Chapman at the back post following the PBA corner kick. He made another one on a deflected shot by Caludio Rivadeneira in the 50^th minute before grabbing a cross off the end line by Rivadeneira before it could end up with a trailing runner by the Sailfish.
• Yusufoglu ended up with four saves, and his most difficult came with a diving stop in the 75^th minute against Kebba Nyang.
• Palm Beach Atlantic limited Florida Southern to three shots after coming into play averaging a little over five allowed per match.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

• After scoring the game-winning goal in back-to-back wins over Embry-Riddle and Eckerd, center back Daniel Moore starred in more conventional fashion Saturday night. In addition to his blocked shot in the 27^th minute, he blocked another one inside the box in the 60^th. He later stopped a potential 1-on-1 by Nyang in the 66^th. He later headed away a free kick in the 76^th minute when the Mocs were playing a man down.
• Nick Atwood made his first start of the season at right back and delivered a big play of his own in the 75^th minute by making a sliding stop against Nyang in a dangerous position before a shot could be taken.
• Florida Southern had to play short after Foster Appiah received a second yellow card in the 72^nd minute, but wasn't down very long. Page-Chapman was sent off for PBA with his second yellow in the 81^st minute, allowing the teams to again play even for the final 9:21 of the match.
• PBA has conceded only two goals all season and came into the night with a national-best 0.15 goals against average.
• Saturday night was the ninth time in 11 games this season in which Florida Southern allowed either one goal or no goals. That equals the most for the Moccasins since they also had nine such games in 2010, but it took 14 games that year. The last time the Mocs had more than that was 2002 when they finished with 11 games allowing one goal or less, but had only six of that ilk through the first 11.

UP NEXT

Florida Southern travels to Miami Shores for a Wednesday night match at Barry. Kickoff is 6 p.m.