FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Nova Southeastern mustered some late magic in the second half Friday, but its comeback attempt eventually fell short as the Sharks suffered a 4-2 defeat at the hands of Florida National on Senior Night.
Noel Johnson and
Filippo Mancini each tallied their third goals of the season in a 2:27 span down the stretch. However, a four-goal deficit proved too steep, giving Nova Southeastern a final record of 4-11 on the year.
"Obviously a very good team we played tonight in Florida National," said head coach
Matt Watts. "They punished us on three sloppy plays, but we fought back and probably could've had another goal in the final five to seven minutes. That was quality from our lads to show some resiliency"
The Sharks honored their senior class of six prior to kickoff. Unfortunately, though, the Conquistadors weren't willing to concede victory to the group in its final appearance at the NSU Soccer Complex. Florida National struck first right out the gate in the third minute on a spectacular shot into the right, upper-90 off the foot of David Ochoa and quickly added another on a goal by Nicolas Micoli.
Nova Southeastern shook the sluggish start as the first half wore on, but the opening 10 minutes was all the difference in the end.
Trailing 4-0 in the 79
th minute, the Sharks showed some guts and in fact made the contest quite interesting in the waning moments. Applying pressure to the Florida National backline, Johnson created a turnover deep in the Sharks' offensive end and turned the theft into a score after beating the keeper in a one-on-one opportunity. Able to avoid the shutout, the Nova Southeastern offense appeared rejuvenated and Mancini quickly cut into the deficit further by drilling a beautiful left-footed strike into the corner of the net in the 81
st minute.
Time would ultimately run out on the Sharks, though, despite becoming the first team to hang multiple scores on the Conquistadors since Eastern Florida State did so back on September 4.
"Obviously it's not a great way to go out with a loss as a senior, but the seniors worked really hard tonight in making that comeback happen," Watts added. "
Michael Rosario,
Jose Giron,
Caue (
Rodrigues),
Faycal (
Oulahbib),
Viktor (
Jonsson) and
Santiago (
Camacho), I'm happy for those guys. They've left the program in a good position and that's what we asked of them at the start of the season. We were unlucky on tonight's result, but we'll kick on and look forward to next year."
