LAKELAND, Fla. – On a rainy Saturday night at Berend Field, the Florida Southern College men's soccer team fell to Sunshine State Conference rival Lynn University by a score of 1-0.
The chipper battle reached its peak when the Mocs were flagged for a foul inside the box, leading Lynn to take a 1-0 lead on a penalty kick goal with under ten minutes to play.
Florida Southern (2-3-2, 0-2-0 SSC) had numerous opportunities to take the lead in the first half, as
Santiago Erazo came inches away from putting the Mocs on the board on two occasions. Lynn (1-3-3, 1-2-0 SSC) notched their first win of the season by the strength of their freshman goalkeeper who made two extremely clutch saves over the course of the contest.
The Mocs' back line played a strong match, ceding five shots on goal, but blocking most of the other shot attempts throughout the majority of the game.
Leoluca Diefenbach and
Dino Leddie played all ninety minutes in the heartbreaking conference bout.
Henri Tophoven was held in check for most of the match, failing to record a shot on goal after hitting the back of the net in each of the last four games.
Florida Southern's
AJ Pearce was phenomenal, as he made consecutive saves on close shots in the 66
th minute before eventually giving up the penalty kick goal.
The Mocs were unable to muster much offense throughout the game but were able to put together a great chance to equalize in the final minute of the game.
Victor Beker had his initial shot blocked inside the box before rifling a left-footed shot towards the right side of the cage.
Lynn's Luca Clavero was equal to the task, making a diving stop to secure his first career win.
With the goal given up late tonight, the Mocs have now given up three penalty-kick strikes on four of their opponents' attempts this season.
Florida Southern is back at it on Tuesday night at home in an exhibition match against Atlantis University. They'll return to conference play on Sept. 24 at 7 p.m. on the road against Florida Tech.
