Florida Southern was unable to overcome a five goal third quarter as they fell to eleventh ranked Catawba College 13-9 Saturday afternoon in Salisbury, North Carolina. With the win Catawba improves to 8-2 and 4-1 in the DSC, while Florida Southern drops to 6-6 and 3-2 in the DSC.
Florida Southern struck first as Adam Ismaeil received a pass in transition and put a shot past the goalie. Minutes later Catawba’s Braden Artem evened the score at 1-1 with a goal. The two teams traded goals as the scored remained tied 2-2 after the opening period.
In the second quarter Marty Tuohy gave Catawba a 3-2 lead. Ike Hopper’s shot bounced of the defender’s stick into the goal to even the score 3-3. The Indians’ Freddie Turcio put a shot into the cage to give Catawba a 4-3 lead at half.
Just over a minute into the third quarter Turcio shot got past the goalie giving the Indians a 5-3 lead. Kevin Naslonski found A.J. Monteleone for a goal to cut the deficit to one goal. Catawba scored three straight goals to give them an 8-4 advantage. Florida Southern took advantage of an Indians penalty as Corey Brown found Stephan Boyle for a man-up goal. Trevor Sieracki scored a goal to give Catawba a 9-5 lead after three quarters.
Tuohy scored his fourth goal of the day with 12:39 remaining in the fourth quarter. After the two teams traded goals, Monteleone found Boyle cutting to the cage for his second goal of the game. Artem scored a man-up goal to extend the lead to 12-7. A minute later Jon Freda’s shot got found the back of the cage. After a Catawba goal, Brad Fretti picked up a ground ball off the face off drove the field and put a shot got past the goalie, for the 13-9 final.
Boyle, Hopper, and Monteleone each had two goals in the contest, while Freda added a goal and an assist.
Goalie Andrew Almansberger finished the game with nine saves and six ground balls.
The Moccasins will be back in action Saturday when they travel to Saint Leo to take on Saint Leo University in a key Deep South Conference matchup. Game time is slated for 7 p.m.
