Box Score MELBOURNE, Fla. – No. 5 Florida Southern defeated Florida Tech 19-4 on the road Saturday afternoon to finish its inaugural season in the Sunshine State Conference with a perfect 4-0 league record.
The Moccasins (18-2, 4-0 SSC) will now host the first-ever SSC Tournament at Bryant Stadium. The semifinal round is scheduled for Friday, April 24 with the title game on Sunday, April 26. Game times will be announced in the near future.
Rollins (11-3, 3-1 SSC) will be the second seed. Florida Tech (7-7, 1-2 SSC) will play at Saint Leo (8-7, 1-2 SSC) on Wednesday, April 22 at 7 p.m. to determine the final two seeds.
"Our program has been around for four years and in our first opportunity to win the conference we went undefeated," said head coach Kara Reber. "We are really excited and are looking forward to hosting the conference tournament."
"It's a great feeling win the Sunshine State Conference in our first season," senior midfielder Megan Asper said. "I am glad to be a part of the inaugural regular season championship team with a great group of girls."
FSC outshot the Panthers, 43-to-15, and collected more ground balls, 36-to-21. The Panthers turned the ball over 33 times, 20 caused by the Mocs, who entered the game leading the nation with 12.95 caused turnovers per game.
Senior Caitlin Chase scored a game-high four goals and six points. With 347 career points, the Mt. Laurel, N.J., native moved up to 11th on the NCAA Division II all-time scoring list. Her 88 points this season rank second in Division II and are the second-most by a Moc in a single season behind her 111-point performance last season.
Freshman Shannon Gilfedder (Longwood, Fla.) scored twice and added three helpers for a career-high five points. Senior Lorianne Hoover (Annapolis, Md.) followed with two goals and two assists, and picked up a game-high five ground balls.
The Mocs scored the first three goals of the game, one each from the three senior captains. Asper (Parkton, Md.) opened the scoring with an unassisted goal less than a minute into the game. Gilfedder then fed both Hoover and Chase to put FSC ahead 3-0.
Up 3-1, FSC went on a 5-0 run to jump ahead by seven. Gilfedder intercepted Florida Tech goalkeeper Stephanie Stuart and had an easy shot on the empty net with Stuart unable to retreat to the crease. Sophomore Kendall Kerge (Edgewater, Md.) scored in similar fashion to cap the run.
The Panthers cut the deficit to 8-2 before the half with a free position goal by Heather Roache.
The Mocs outscored FIT 11-2 in the second half. Leading 9-3, the Mocs scored five times in a span of 4:55, ending with a score from freshman Emily Santoli (Fort Salonga, N.Y.). Following a free position goal for Florida Tech's Allie Wood, the Mocs finished on a 6-0 run, three off of the stick of freshman Cayla Shawfield (Oviedo, Fla.) in the first multi-goal game of her rookie season.
Redshirt freshman Ashley Seborowski (Annapolis, Md.) made a pair of saves in the first half to improve her record to 16-1, tying Katie Hammerer's mark for the most wins in a season. Six different Mocs caused multiple turnovers, led by junior Gabby Barowski (Alexandria, Va.) with four.
