Mocs Rally Falls Short Against #11 Queens

Florida Southern rallied from three goals down in the fourth quarter to tie #11 Queens twice, but was unable to pull ahead and lost 9-8 Sunday afternoon at Bryant Stadium. With the win the Royals improve to 4-1 on the season, while the Moccasin drop to 3-5.

The Mocs struck first as A.J. Monteleone scored an unassisted goal five minutes into the first quarter. Two minutes later Chris Murphy found Cory Brown for a goal to extend the Mocs lead to 2-0. Queens responded with back-to-back goals by T.C. Whaley and Brian Rose to tie the game 2-2 after the opening period. 

The defensive battle continued in the second quarter as both teams went scoreless. The Mocs' defense forced five turnovers, while Andrew Almansberger had three saves.

Queens took its first lead of the game 30 seconds into the third quarter as Matthew Michael found Rose for the score. Two minutes later FSC answered when Murphy found Kevin Naslonski cutting towards the net for a goal to tie the game at 3-3.

The scored remained tied until 14:34 left in the fourth quarter when Corey Geroy shot found the back of the net to give Queens a 4-3 lead. Less than two minutes later Travis Speer’s shot bounced off the inside of the post for a goal. On the ensuing faceoff Geroy found Michael for a goal, extending Queens' lead to 6-3 with 12:57 remaining. 

The Mocs rallied on unassisted goals by Monteleone and Naslonski to cut the lead to 6-5 with 10:50 left. After the two teams traded goals, Brad Fretti picked up a ground ball off a Queens’ turnover and put a shot past the keeper to tie the game 7-7. The Royals went ahead 8-7 on a Michael’s goal with 1:47 remaining.  Jon Freda dodged his way towards the cage and scored to tie the game with 31 seconds remaining. Seven seconds later Alex Wesenberg scored the game-winning goal for Queens.

Almansberger finished the game with 12 saves and four ground balls, while the Mocs defense forced 20 turnovers.

Naslonski and Monteleone each had two goals, while Murphy had two assist.

The Moccasins will return to action Saturday afternoon at Bryant Stadium when they take on #7 Mars Hill University. Game time is set for 12 p.m.