LAKELAND â€" Florida Southern couldn’t get past a commanding Wheeling Jesuit defense as the Moccasins dropped their game against the Cardinals 14-7 for their second straight loss on the season. The Mocs fall to 2-3 on the season while the Cardinals improve to 4-2.

The game started out closely between the two teams asWheeling Jesuit would get on the board first early in the first quarter but the Mocs would counter later that same quarter to tie up at one all. However from there on out the Mocs would find the goal sparsely until the fourth quarter. 

The Cardinals scored two quick goals after the Mocs first goal an added another only 23 seconds into the second quarter to go up 4-1 on a little 3-0 run. Chris Murphy (Camillus, N.Y.) though would take the ensuing faceoff from Dan Krispinsky (Ft. Myers, Fla.) and streak down the field to score in just six seconds closing the Wheeling Jesuit lead to 4-2. The Cardinals would counter with a 3-1 lead before halftime pushing their own lead to 7-3 at the break.

It looked like the Mocs comeback plans were halted early in the third quarter as the Cardinals opened the third with four goals extending the WJU lead to the largest of the night 11-3. With those four straight goals by the Cardinals all seemed lost on a comeback attempt for the Mocs but the FSC team had other plans going on a 3-0 run of their own between the third and fourth quarters closing the gap 11-6 with 11:05 remaining in the game.

Wheeling Jesuit would add the nail in the coffin though scoring two straight man-up goals to give the Cardinals a 13-6 lead. FSC would add a goal at 4:53 and WJU would add one more with 1:11 remaining to end the game at 14-7.

Earning his first start on the season was freshman Sam Hartley (Wilmington, N.C.). Hartley shook off some first half jitters to tally nine saves in the second half for a total of 11 on the night. Collecting his fourth win for the Cardinals was Jim Lapenna who stopped countless Moc shots throughout the game, tallying 14 saves in the process.

The Mocs most impressive stat on the evening was Krispinsky’s performance at the faceoff-x where he went 19-25 on the night including picking up 15 ground balls which is a program and personal best.

Leading the Mocs on offense was Murphy and Dane Sorensen (Victoria, British Columbia) who each scored twice on the evening.

Upcoming for the Mocs will be one more home game next Wed. March 13 at 7:00 p.m. against Adams State. before the program takes to the road for two games.