Polk County alums help Florida Southern men's soccer to top 10 ranking
· Yahoo Sports
A couple of very good former Polk County high school soccer players are a part of the Florida Southern men's soccer team moving in the top 10.
Former Lakeland Christian soccer player Hale Ottman, former McKeel goalie Nate Miller and Mulberry High School standout Chandler Crawshaw are on a local Florida Southern college team that is officially ranked as the No. 9 team in the country, according to a Florida Southern announcement.
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And with moving up the rankings, this is the Mocs third straight week the team is ranked, which ties the 2018 squad for the second-longest in program history. And if this continues for one more week, this will match the 1999 team for the longest span in which the team was ranked at four straight weeks. Additionally, Florida Southern is the only Sunshine State Conference team ranked in the top 25 this week.
Ottman, the program's midfielder, has logged 763 minutes, the fifth-most on the team, and has spent his time connecting the defense to attack, controlling the pace of the game and distributing the ball. And this is no surprise, as at Lakeland Christian, Ottman was an all-county selection and was a Preseason Player of the Year candidate before going on to the local Lakeland United, North Greenville University and Florida Southern.
"These guys expect me to play ...," Ottman previously said. "I thought I did my part... I was able to somewhat contribute and at least give a good performance. I kind of did the simple stuff right. Not really anything too big.”
Then there is Miller, a talented goalkeeper during his McKeel days, who has racked up 35 wins and 24 shutouts, leading the Wildcats to two regional championships.
The Mocs also have Crawshaw, who also played on the Lakeland United squad. At Mulberry, he finished with 105 goals and 56 assists and was a District Player of the Year all four years of his high school career. At Florida Southern he's up to 444 minutes logged, three points and one goal scored.
All three have very different roles on the team. But the trio of Polk County players are very much a part of history.
The Mocs are a team that is up to 9-1-1, which is good for the second most wins in the entire Division II, right behind Cal. State - Los Angeles. And with a victory over Saint Leo and a tie on the road against Rollins, Florida Southern is undefeated in SSC play.
As a unit, Florida Southern is in the top 10 in the country in multiple offensive categories, including assists per game (2.27), goal differential (819), points per game (7.91), the No. 6 scoring offense in the nation (2.82), total goals (31) and total points (87).
The Mocs next game is 7 p.m. Saturday against Palm Beach Atlantic at Berend Field.
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Polk County alums help Florida Southern men's soccer to top 10 ranking