WEST PALM BEACH, Fla.- The Palm Beach Atlantic men's soccer defeated Florida Memorial 8-0 on senior night. The Sailfish scored once before halftime and added seven goals in the second half to take the result. The Sailfish finished with a 15-7 advantage in shots and put 11 attempts on goal while holding Fla. Memorial to three shots on frame.
The Sailfish broke through in the 24th minute when
Yassir Smlali scored off an assist from
Quinlan van Arkel, giving the home side a 1-0 lead. Earlier, the Sailfish pushed forward with an 11:54 corner and had several attacking moves halted by offside calls before Smlali put a shot on frame that Franco Petruzzi saved at 23:09. After the goal, Fla. Memorial answered with two shots, but both missed the target, while the Sailfish added looks from
Michael Florian,
Kylen DeStefano and
Ole Lichter. The Sailfish kept the pressure on late with shots and corners at 33:29, 33:34, 42:48 and 42:57, and they finished the half ahead 1-0.
The Sailfish broke open the second half with seven goals, moving from a 1-0 score state early in the half to an 8-0 final behind four goals and two assists from
Kobi Thomas. Earlier, the Sailfish earned a corner at 46:31, then played through a stretch from 50:00 to 58:05 that included five Sailfish fouls and a Fla. Memorial yellow card, with
Omar Einarsson saving a Fla. Memorial shot at 51:17. Fla. Memorial added a corner and a shot high around the hour mark, but
Robi Lukau scored from Thomas at 62:07, and Einarsson saved another shot 40 seconds later before Thomas scored at 67:48 and again at 73:33 off assists from Lukau and
Nicola Brocca.Â
The Sailfish kept adding chances, with Lukau forcing a save at 76:03 before Thomas finished from Lichter at 78:26 to make it 5-0. At 82:40, after Fla. Memorial was shown a red card, Lichter converted a penalty kick, and the 'Fish closed the match with
Veit Klement scoring from Thomas at 88:01 and Thomas scoring from
Livio von Holzen at 89:15.
Thomas led the Sailfish with four goals, two assists, 10 points, and four shots on goal, with a hat trick included in his line. Smlali scored the game-winning goal and put both of his shots on frame. Lichter added a goal and an assist, converting his lone penalty attempt and finishing with two shots on goal. Einarsson played all 90 minutes in goal, made three saves, and finished with a shutout.
The Sailfish return to the field on Saturday evening when they head to Wesley Chapel for a matchup with Saint Leo.Â
