LAKELAND, Fla. (September 8, 2025) - Men's soccer secured a big road win on Wednesday night, taking down the Florida Southern Mocs by a score of 3-2. The win moves the Tars to 5-2-2 (2-1-1 SSC) on the year, while the Mocs fall to 4-5-1 (1-4-0 SSC).
The Mocs opened the scoring in the 16th minute when a throw in was headed by Joao Lopes to Tim Baierlein, who also used his head to work his strike past Killian Vallant for his fourth goal of the year.
Rollins would exact their revenge in the 37th minute. After making an aggressive attack towards the Southern goal, the Tars were awarded a corner kick. The ball was sent in to the box by
Kaden Foreman, and was headed out to
Jaden Splunge. The freshman defender smashed it out of the air, bounced it off a Moc defender, and beat the keeper for his first career goal, tying the match.
Each team managed one more shot on target in the half, but they were both saved. In the first half, the two teams were even on shots (six each) and saves (two each). Rollins had a 3-0 advantage on corners, and the Mocs also were a little too feisty, as they were whistled for seven fouls ot Rollins' two.
The Tars captured the lead in the 52nd minute when
Gabriel Ciffoni sent a ball down the sideline. From there,
Cory Edwards was off to the races beating his defender to the ball, working past the same defender to the baseline, and then blasting a shot with his right foot on a tough angle for the goal and the lead.
Minutes later, Rollins found the net for the final time. After a long clearance from
Hayden Judge,
Pablo Herrero ended up with the ball and space. As he worked towards the middle of the field, he passed to a streaking
Yousef Shakweer, who instantly touched the ball ahead to
Finlay Prain. The sophomore striker knew what to do, smoking a left-footed strike past the frozen keeper for a 3-1 lead.
Things got interesting in the final ten minutes. Southern played a ball into the box, and somehow came away with possession. Baerlein, running out of space near the baseline, decided to send the ball towards the net. It bounced off the back heel of a Rollins defender and floated over Killian Vallant's head for his second goal of the game.
The Mocs had four more shots recorded in the final nine minutes of the game, but none were on target as Rollins held on for the win.
By the end of the match, Southern had taken 21 shots, but only six were on goal, with four of those saved by Vallant. Rollins had a cleaner ratio of 15 shots with seven on target.
Next up for the Tars is another road game. On Saturday, October 14, Rollins will travel to Fort Lauderdale to take on the Nova Southeastern Sharks. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:00 pm.
