SPORTS

Southeastern women's soccer gets measure of revenge on Keiser

Ray Beasock
The Ledger
Southeastern's Jennifer Luna

Something happened in NAIA women's soccer that hadn't happened in 28 games last week.

Keiser University lost.

Southeastern earned a 2-1 overtime victory over the defending national champions in West Palm Beach on Oct. 23. 

Makayla Peddycoart gave No. 4 Southeastern (9-0-0, 7-0-0) the lead in the 14th minute. Keiser tied it and then the teams went the entire second half knotted at 1-1.

The Fire, who have lost to the Seahawks in the national tournament the previous two years, got the game-winner just a minute in to the extra period when Jennifer Luna touched in a corner by Naira Lopez.

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"We've been talking about effort all year and said before the match that effort and enthusiasm was going to win this game," first-year Southeastern coach Alan Barrios said. "These girls didn't give up and kept fighting, and I'm super proud of their effort tonight."

Postponed

Saturday's scheduled in-county rivalry football game between Southeastern and Warner has been called off.

The Mid-South Conference Sun Division contest was supposed to be played at 1:30 p.m. at Denison Stadium in Winter Haven. There was no reason given for the postponement and no make-up date has been announced.

Warner will shift its focus to a Nov. 7 contest against Crooked Lake rival Webber International, which is scheduled to play Keiser in Babson Park at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday. 

Southeastern isn't scheduled to play until its make-up game at Ave Maria on Nov. 19. 

World Series Champ

Former Florida Southern College baseball standout Dino Ebel (1987-88) became a World Series champion when the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Tampa Bay Rays earlier this week.

Ebel, a member of the 1988 national champion Moccasins, served as the third base and infield coach for the Dodgers. This was his second season with the Dodgers. 

A native of Barstow, California, Ebel has 29 years of experience in professional baseball as a player, coach and manager, including 14 years as a coach in the major leagues. He began his professional managerial career with San Bernardino in the California League after playing six seasons in the minor leagues for the Dodgers. He spent 17 years total with the Dodgers' organization before moving to the Los Angeles Angels in 2005, where he was the manager of the Angels Triple A team in Salt Lake City. In nine seasons as a minor league manager, Ebel collected a 531-496 overall record.

In his two seasons with Florida Southern (1987-88), Ebel, a shortstop, was named a two-time All-Sunshine State Conference selection, a two-time All-South Region honoree and was a Third-Team All-American in 1988 when FSC won its seventh NCAA Division II National Championship.

Awards Show

Here's a rundown of Polk athletes who collected awards in the past week.

• Reigning Sunshine State Conference defensive player of the year, Florida Southern College's Jalyn Hinton, was named to Basketball Times' Preseason All-America Team. The Moccasins were also ranked No. 6 in the publication's preseason rankings. 

• Southeastern University men's soccer goalkeeper Carlos Curado has been named The Sun Conference defensive player of the week. The junior turned in his second shutout of the season with a 97-minute clean sheet in the 1-0 overtime road victory over Warner.

• For the first time, the Southeastern University women's soccer team swept the NAIA national offensive and defensive player of the week awards. Junior midfielder Jennifer Luna earned the offensive nod, while junior goalkeeper Holly Eddins was given defensive recognition. Luna had the game-winning goal against Keiser, while Eddins tallied nine saves over 105 minutes of play against the Seahawks.

Reach Ray Beasock at rbeasock@gannett.com or 863-802-7553. Follow Ray on Twitter: @itsBEASOCK or @Ledger_Colleges.