Following conference wins over Saint Leo and Eckerd, Florida Southern swept the Sunshine State Conference Player-of-the-Week Awards presented by Valic for October 15. Kara Moore was selected as the SSC Offensive Player-of-the-Week after scoring a total of four goals, while Morgan Sammons was the Defensive Player-of-the-Week after helping the Mocs allow just one goal and only 10 shots.
Florida Southern opened the week with a 2-0 win over Saint Leo, with Moore scoring the first goal of the match in the 65th minute. The junior midfielder from Fleming Island then scored all three goals for the Moccasins in their 3-1 win over Eckerd, becoming the first Florida Southern player in four years with a hat trick. All three of those goals came in the second half and brought the Moccasins back from a 1-0 deficit. She scored the winning goal in the 69th minute before clinching the outcome in the 84th.
Sammons has starred on the Florida Southern back line all season from her center back position, and the senior from Lithia was at her best against Saint Leo and Eckerd. In the first game, Sammons helped keep the Lions completely out of the box for the first 65 minutes, and give up just three total shots in the game. None of those were on target as the Mocs picked up their fourth shutout of the season. Later in the week, Sammons led the defense to another strong effort in which they allowed seven shots with only three on target.
While Moore won her first SSC weekly award, Sammons earned her second after being selected as the SSC Offensive Player-of-the-Week as a freshman. She’s now the first player in team history to win both the offensive and defensive awards from the conference in her career. She’s the third player in the SSC to pull off that double feat, joining Barry’s Tammie Thornton (offensive winner in 2001 as a forward, and defensive winner in 2002 as a midfielder) and Rollins’ Leah Hirsch (offensive winner as a midfielder in 2007, and defensive winner as a defender in 2010).
The double honor for Florida Southern is the first time since October 24, 2004, that the Moccasins have swept the weekly women's soccer awards. Taylor Greene and Kim Fish were the SSC Offensive and Defensive Players-of-the-Week on that occasion.