LAKELAND, Fla. – The Florida Southern College men's soccer team played to a scoreless tie on Saturday night as they hosted the RV University of Tampa.
The Moccasins (3-4-6, 0-3-4 SSC) battled tenaciously for the entirety of the game, holding off the Spartans (5-4-2, 3-2-2 SSC) even after being forced to play man-down for the final ten minutes of the game.
AJ Pearce was perfect in goal for Florida Southern, as he stopped seven shots for his first shutout of the year. As a team, the Mocs were able to defend against 19 total shot attempts from the visitors.
Nyles Lockridge,
Ryan Duffey, and
Santiago Erazo played all 90 minutes defensively to help secure the draw against their long-time rivals.
Henri Tophoven had three shot attempts to lead the Moccasins, who were able to muster two shots on goal plus one bid that hit the underside of the cross-bar five minutes into the second half.
It was an extremely rare circumstance, as Florida Southern was awarded an indirect free kick on the edge of the goal area just six yards away from the goalmouth. Tampa expectedly loaded the goal line with nearly their entire team to minimize any chance of a Moccasin goal.
Erazo took the initial touch before
Felix Tonne teed off a shot at the upper portion of the goal, missing the inside of the woodwork by just inches.
That would be the last high-quality chance for the Moccasins, with the Spartans holding the majority of the possession and offensive opportunities, especially after a red card with roughly ten minutes to play tipped the scales in the visitors' favor.
The team honored six seniors in a pre-game ceremony before the match, as
Henri Tophoven,
Santiago Erazo,
Ryan Duffey,
Jack Duffey,
Anthony Hroncich, and
Britt Reisman were all recognized.
The team will turn their attention to Saturday night, as they travel to Barry University for a conference match at 6 p.m.
