LAKELAND, Fla. – The Florida Southern College men's soccer team settled for a 1-1 draw with the University of Montevallo in an aggressive match on Sunday afternoon.
The Moccasins (2-1-1) took the lead in the 74
th minute before the visiting Falcons (1-0-3) scored the equalizer with under nine minutes to go, as the teams played to a tie from that point forward.
It was a scorching day, with the heat index hovering over 100 degrees for the entirety of the contest, leading to numerous substitutions from both sides. In conjunction with the weather, the teams played scrappily from start to finish, as they combined for 34 fouls, 20 of which were called on the Moccasins, the most in a game since Oct. 19, 2019, when they were called for 22 fouls in a win over Barry University.
Amidst the aggressive style of play and dry heat, the Moccasins got out to an early start, with transfer student
Henri Tophoven rattling off three shots, two of which were on goal, in the first 25 minutes.
The graduate student and transfer out of the University of Wisconsin scored all three goals in the Mocs' thrilling 3-2 victory over Alabama-Huntsville on Friday night.
The teams stayed scoreless as momentum in the game evened out in the last few minutes of the first half.
Florida Southern's
AJ Pearce made an excellent stop in the 28
th minute after a yellow card issued to
Santiago Erazo set the visitors up with a decent free kick opportunity.
The Mocs wound up fouling four more times in the first half, but escaped into the halftime break unscathed, and the score still deadlocked at zeroes.
At the start of the second half, the aggressive style of play returned and the teams combined for seven fouls in the opening ten minutes, with the Falcons picking up two yellow cards along the way.
The best scoring opportunity at the time came from
Dylan Lowther, who delivered a well-struck right-footed shot to the center of the net in the 55
th minute. The opportunity was thwarted by the goalkeeper and the rebound was cleared out seconds later.
The South-region teams continued to play end-to-end soccer, with each team earning a corner kick opportunity in the following minutes, yet neither converted on their chances.
Finally, in the 74
th minute, Florida Southern broke through as Tophoven found the back of the net for his fifth goal of the season.
The goal was set up by a brilliant passing sequence that started from the back line of defense.
Leoluca Diefenbach delivered a stretch pass up the left wing that was well-received by
Daniel Miranda, starting the rush and playing a back-pass to
Julian Jordan-Canosa. His cross opened up the right wing for
Kyle Carr to move forward, as he set up
Sam Michaels, who delivered a well-placed cross into the box on the foot of Miranda.
Miranda patiently held the ball before teeing up Tophoven, who fired a shot into the bottom right corner to give his team the 1-0 lead.
Florida Southern controlled the momentum in the moments following the goal but the visiting Falcons were able to draw a foul just inside the box, setting up a penalty kick opportunity with under ten minutes to play.
Pearce made a perfect read on the shot, as he leapt to his right and nudged the ball off the post and out of harm's way.
However, just seconds later, the Falcons were able to corral the ball and deliver a cross into the box from the right wing. After a deflection in front, the ball ricocheted to a Montevallo forward, who flicked the ball over
AJ Pearce and into the back of the net.
The game would stay knotted up at one for the rest of the match, and the teams finished with a tie in what was a very physical, hard-fought game for both sides.
The Moccasins will return to play this Saturday as they open their conference schedule with a road match against Nova Southeastern University.
