Box Score
LAKELAND - The rivalry between Rollins College and Florida Southern College goes back nearly 100 years, but Wednesday night at Bryant Stadium a new chapter was begun. For the first time ever, the Tars and Moccasins met on the lacrosse field, but even in a new venue and a new sport, the intensity was old-school to the final whistle. When it sounded, Florida Southern had come out on top by a score of 11-5, with eight different Moccasins scoring a goal.
Both schools are normally members of the Sunshine State Conference, but in lacrosse, Florida Southern and Rollins are part of the Deep South Conference. Rollins began varsity competition in 2008, while Florida Southern has taken the field for the first time this season. On Wednesday, both teams were looking for their first ever conference victory. The Mocs got it after getting one goal and three assists from Stefan Nippert, two goals and one assists from Nick Papagikos, and 10 saves from Andrew Almansberger.
Early on, however, the game belonged to Rollins (1-3, 0-2). The Tars received goals from BJ Neller and Ian Tarrant late in the first quarter to take a 2-0 lead and were out-shooting the Moccasins, 11-7 at the end of the period. Things changed quickly after that - very quickly.
Just over a minute into the second quarter, Papagikos scored his first goal of the night to cut the deficit to one. Rollins won the ensuing face-off, but Almansberger made a big save, and Jon Hurm quickly brought the ball upfield and scored at the 12:34 mark to tie the game at two.
When the Mocs won the next face-off, Seabrooke Carter found room for a shot moments later, but had it stopped by Rollins goalie Zach Cole. Devin Peirce picked up the loose ball, eventually got it to Nippert, who fed Bryan Sbriglia for another Florida Southern goal. The Tars were also whistled for a penalty on the play, giving the Moccasins a man advantage for the next 60 seconds. They turned that opportunity into another goal, this one by Justin Brown, and the Mocs led 4-2. That was four goals in the first 4 minutes and 16 seconds of the second quarter.
Rollins would score after that to pull within 4-3, but Carter, Papagikos and Chase Juelich all scored in the final 5:15 of the quarter to give Florida Southern a 7-3 lead at halftime.
The Mocs then started the third quarter like they started the second. When the Tars failed to clear a Moccasin attack, Juelich made them pay with a goal early in the period, and after Max Whipple won the next face-off, Carter scored his second goal of the night just 20 seconds after Juelich had scored. The Mocs were up 9-3 at that point and cruised the rest of the way.
Rollins was called for eight penalties in the final 12 minutes, allowing Florida Southern to play a man-up for much of that time. The Mocs worked the clock, controlled the game, then celebrated their first Deep South win.
Whipple was again a force for the Moccasins in the middle, winning 10 of 15 face-offs in the game, including all eight in the second half. He also led the Mocs with 10 ground balls. The Mocs also held the Tars to only eight shots in the second half while forcing 14 turnovers during that samp span.
Florida Southern will be at home again Saturday afternoon when it hosts Salem State at 1:00.
