Colleges: Lions close home schedule with victory

A pair of goals in the first four minutes propelled Saint Leo to a 3-1 victory against Florida Southern at University Field on Wednesday evening.

Leonardo Nogueira opened the scoring in the second minute, slipping unmarked into the penalty area to be found by a pass by Bruce Cutler. Nogueira took a touch to control before blasting his shot into the top-left corner of the net.

The Lions (6-6-0, 2-3-0) doubled their lead two minutes later, as a corner by Cutler was flicked on by Jonathan Glenn, finding Cody Allen at the far post for a close-range finish.

Florida Southern (1-9-0, 1-5-0) pulled a goal back quickly, Jovaughn Howard’s shot eluding Lions goalkeeper Erik Mozzo’s grasp to make the score 2-1 in the sixth minute.

Saint Leo gave itself a two-goal cushion early in the second half as it scored on a slightly fortuitous goal. A long ball forward by Cutler towards Glenn at the top of the penalty area was met by Florida Southern goalkeeper Johan Jonsson, but he only succeeded in punching the ball off the back of Glenn’s head, the ball rebounding into the vacant net.

The win wrapped up the Lions regular season home schedule, with three games on the road to come. The first of those comes this Saturday as they travel to Miami Shores to face Barry University.