LAKELAND, Fla. - The Florida Southern College men's soccer team came out with fire and a point to prove that they are not a team to mess with as they took down No. 10 ranked Rollins College in shutout fashion on Berend field Saturday night.
The Moccasins (4-2-4, 2-0-3) gave it everything they had the entire 90 minutes of action as they gave the Tars (5-1-3, 2-1-1) their first loss in Sunshine State Conference play and of the 2023 season.
"I am really proud of the result and the guys for their effort tonight," said head coach
Ashley Holmes '12. "Rollins is a fantastic team and this is a massive three points for the lads to remain undefeated in league play."
In the fifth minute, Florida Southern put Rollins in an early hole when senior forward
Kyle Carr fed junior defender
Mathias Kjolner, who beat out the Tars keeper Max Walker to give Southern a 1-0 lead.
Shortly after, a yellow card was given to the Tars' Patrick Horan setting the Mocs up for a free kick. Carr took the free kick and Rollins keeper deflected the shot for a save but the ball ended up back Florida Southern's possession. FSC had a second chance when freshman midfielder
Matthew Male assisted back to Carr, finding the back of the net to make it 2-0 with still a lot of game left to play.
Rollins had several great chances, but the Mocs' defense continued to hold strong. The Mocs would take the 2-0 lead into halftime.
Again, the Mocs went to work early after the kickoff. Just 96 seconds into the second half, junior midfielder
Luca Bernoth scored the third goal of the game.
With Florida Southern up 3-0, the Mocs had focused on defense and kept the Tars from getting any quality looks for the majority of the half. In the last five minutes, it was a barrage of shots as the Tars put four strikes on target, but each one was saved by senior keeper
AJ Pearce.
A historic night for FSC, giving Rollins their first loss of the year, and also the first time that the Tars failed to score in a match this season. Jorge Lameiras was shut down by Pearce, and the entire back line of defenders (junior
Nyles Lockridge, sophomore
Pablo Overfeld, junior
Kristoffer Risnes, and sophomore
Ruben Linden) all contributed to snapping Lameiras' eight-game goal streak. Tonight was the first time since 2018 that the Mocs defeated a nationally ranked opponent, when they also defeated Rollins on Sept. 19, when they were ranked No.14 also shutting out the Tars 2-0.
Kjolner and Carr each earned their second goal of the year while Bernoth scored his first. Despite the score, the Tars outshot the Mocs 22-to-9 with 8-to-5 being on goal. In goal, Pearce had a season-high of seven saves.
Florida Southern will take a break from conference play next week as they host Georgia Southwestern State on Wednesday, Oct. 11. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.
