FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. –
The Conquistadors men’s soccer team traveled to Davie, FL this past Friday, October 28th to face NCAA Division II powerhouse Nova Southeastern University (The Sharks). Florida National University was looking to keep the winning streak alive and clinch its 14th win in a row. The Conquistadors haven’t lost a match since their opening season game this year, when they were defeated by Oklahoma Wesleyan University which has been ranked #1 in the nation since the beginning of the season.
Top Scorers: Tomas Crespi with 16 goals and Nicolas Micoli with 16 goals are the Conquistadors top scorer this season.
Previous Match: The Sharks and the Conquistadors faced each other for the first time in their history.
The Sharks:
Playing in one of the toughest NCAA D II Conferences in the nation, the Sharks of NSU didn’t have an easy year this season. With only 3 wins in 10 matches, NSU will probably not make their conference tournament this season. It was the Sharks Senior night, which always helps boost a team’s motivation to win the match and during the game 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 Conquistadors on Nova’s Senior Night. On the Sharks side 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.
The Conquistadors:
The goals by the Conquistadors came by DAVID OCHOA right footed, upper 90 from the top of the box, NICOLAS MICOLI assisted by Vinicius Costa left footed, left corner, GABRIEL BARBOSA assited by Rodrigo Costa low right corner, Allan Sorato assisted by Rodrigo Costa
“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.
Winning 4-0 coach Fernando Valenzuela showed great sportsmanship towards the Sharks seniors. When he started pulling out all his starters with 29 minutes left in the game, and letting his second team play the remaining minutes of the game. This is when at the 79th 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 81st 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.
November 15. “Tomi says he can fly the team there after his flying lessons”
