LAKELAND, Fla. — Florida Southern (11-3-3, 5-2-3) defeated Palm Beach Atlantic (6-6-5, 4-4-2) 3-2 on Tuesday night (Nov. 3). After trailing for 80 minutes, the Mocs scored three time in the final ten minutes to defeat the Sailfish.
Florida Southern went into halftime down 1-0 after PBA's Robi Lukau scored in the 28th minute. Earlier,
Ricardo Marques saved Lukau's first-minute shot, and
Dakota Henry put Florida Southern's first attempt on frame in the sixth minute before the ensuing corner kick. The half turned physical through the middle stages, with the Mocs whistled for multiple fouls and shown yellow cards to Henry, the team and
Nate Miller, while
Hector Oliver and Baierlein added attempts before the Sailfish broke through. After the goal,
Joao Lopes forced a save from Flavio Giannini in the 29th minute and later sent a shot out top right in the 41st, but Florida Southern remained behind 1-0 at the break.
In the second half, FSC built pressure while still down 1-0, generating five shots and three corners from 67:27 to 76:59, including back-to-back corner kicks in the 71st and 72nd minutes. Marques made a diving save on Simon Buechte at 80:57, and Lopes had a shot saved by the Sailfish team at 82:04.
In the 84th minute
Hector Oliver broke through with a shot just outside the box to draw the match even. Two minutes later,
Chandler Crawshaw scored from Baierlein's incredible assist two minutes later to put Florida Southern ahead 2-1, and Marques added saves on Kobi Thomas and Buechte during a late PBA push.
With two minutes left in the match, the Sailfish tied it at two with a penalty kick converted from Kobi Thomas after a handball in the box. Baierlein answered at 88:39 with a header into the side netting off
Dakota Henry's assist, giving the Mocs the 3-2 victory in a stunning victory..
Baierlein scored the game-winning goal, added an assist and shared the team lead with four shots. Oliver recorded a game-tying goal and matched Baierlein with four shots. Crawshaw scored on one of his two shots. Marques made four saves over 90 minutes and was credited with the win.
The Mocs advance to the SSC Semifinals for the first time since 2006 and will host the seven-seed in Tampa on Thursday night (Nov. 5) at 6 pm at Berend Field.
