LAKELAND, Fla. - The Florida Southern College men's soccer team saw its first loss of the season as they battled it out against the #2 Lynn University on Saturday night. The Moccasins (2-1-2, 0-1-0 SSC) gave the Fighting Knights (5-0-0, 1-0-0 SSC) everything they had but fell 4-0 in the Sunshine State Conference Opener.
It was
Darcy Moffat who earned the first shot on goal for either team to open up the game as Lynn's keeper Luca Clavero made the stop to keep the game scoreless. The fighting Knights offense quickly turned on the pressure and the Mocs keeper
Joe O'Shaughnessy made a diving save in the ninth minute.
During the 12th minute of action, Florida Southern's defense stood strong as the Fighting Knights had three consecutive opportunities but
Ruben Linden,
Pablo Overfeld, and
Yuta Tokuhisa protected the back line holding the game scoreless.
It was not until late in the first half that a diving save from O'Shaughnessy would force the Mocs keeper on the ground and leave an open net allowing Lynn to take a 1-0 lead with a goal from Luan Rennstich in the 41st minute.
After the halftime break, the Fighting Knights came out craving more and scored early in the 56th minute from a shot off the crossbar that found the foot of Luis Kiefer. After Kiefer's goal he went back for another but this time O'Shaughnessy was there for the save.
After two goals scored by Lynn, FSC quickly turned up the pace and
Jay Skelcher-Maxwell and
Felix Tonne had back-to-back shots both going out of the top of the net. Exactly four minutes later, O'Shaughnessy dived out to the left earning another save to add to his resume for the night.
Florida Southern made two subs at the 69th minute giving the Fighting Knights the advantage allowing Lucas Vila to score back-to-back goals in a two-minute time frame.
18 Mocs saw action tonight, but they were not able to pull out the win as FSC fell to the ranked Fighting Knights at home. In goal, O'Shaughnessy had a season-high of five saves facing a total of 20 shots in between the posts. Captain Skelcher-Maxwell tallied two shots while also drawing three fouls and the lone shot on goal went to the reigning offensive player of the week Moffat.
Florida Southern looks to jump back and hit the road as they face Georgia Southwestern State on Wednesday, Sept. 25. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.
