Box Score
Trailing by three goals midway through the fourth quarter, the Moccasins’ scored twice in the final four minutes, but it wasn’t enough, as Catawba held on for a 7-6 win to capture its second straight Deep South Conference championship Sunday afternoon at Mars Hill, N.C. With the win Catawba improves to 14-2, while Florida Southern finished the season 10-6.
Catawba struck first as Braden Artem connected with Tom Cullop to give the Indians a 1-0 lead with 11:25 left in the opening quarter. Minutes later, Artem scored an unassisted goal to put Catawba up 2-0.  Coming out of a timeout, FSC's Chris Murphy dodged to the right and put a shot into the back of the cage to cut the deficit to 2-1 after the first quarter.
Two minutes into the second quarter the Indians' Freddie Turcio netted a goal. The Mocs responded, as Kevin Naslonski found Dane Sorensen in front of the cage for the goal to cut the deficit to 3-2. Neither team scored again until just over two minutes remained in the period, when Cullop netted his second goal of the game to give the Indians a 4-2 lead at halftime.Â
The Moccasins outshot the Indians 10-3 in the third period. They cut the lead to 4-3, as Sorensen picked up a rebound off a Shane Tompkins’ shot and put it home, but Catawba answered with back-to-back goals to take a 6-3 lead after three quarters.
Chas LaDue won faceoff to begin the fourth quarter and on the ensuing possession, Naslonski put a shot past goalie Michael Pecchia to cut the lead to 6-4 with 13:53 to go. Cory Losselyong scored an unassisted goal to give Catawba a 7-4 lead with 11:18 remaining. The score remained that way until the 3:52 mark, when Brendan Mykle-Winkler scored an unassisted goal to cut the deficit to 7-5. On the Mocs' next possession Sorensen connected with Mat Thompson for a goal to cut the lead to 7-6 with 2:15 remaining. The Moccasins got the ball back, as Adam Ismaeil picked up a ground ball after Cullop’s shot hit the post, to give the Moccasins one final opportunity with 50 seconds remaining. The Moccasins had two chances to tie the game, but were unsuccessful.
Sorensen led the Moccasins with two goals and an assist, while Naslonski, Thompson, Murphy, and Mykle-Winkler each netted a goal.
Almansberger finished the game with 13 saves, while Pecchia made 17 saves to earn the DSC Tournament MVP award.
D.J. Lubs tallied five caused turnovers and six ground balls, while Larry Gress caused three turnovers and picked up six ground balls.
The Moccasins concluded their most successful season in the program's four-year history, setting records for wins (10) and longest winning streak (7 games), while going undefeated at home with a 7-0 mark at Bryant Stadium.
