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LAKELAND - For the second consecutive season, third-ranked and top-seeded Florida Southern and sixth-ranked and No. 2-seeded Rollins will meet each other here Sunday afternoon at 12 p.m. in the championship game of the 2016 Sunshine State Conference Women's Lacrosse Tournament at Bryant Stadium.
In last season's inaugural SSC Tournament, which also was held at Lakeland's Bryant Stadium, Rollins used goals in overtime from Kristina Coppolino and Emily Eddowes to post a 12-10 overtime victory over the Moccasins and claim the inaugural SSC Tournament title. The Mocs had won the regular season title with a 4-0 record.
Much like last season, the Mocs rolled through the regular season SSC slate without a loss as they went 4-0 this year to win its second straight regular season. The Mocs outscored its four league foes 64-19 and won three of their four league games by double-digit margins, including posting an impressive 15-6 win at then third-ranked Rollins in the regular season finale on April 21.
The Moccasins, who have won a school record 10 consecutive games and is sporting a 15-3 overall record, earned its second straight appearance in the SSC Tournament championship game following its 19-10 win in Friday's semifinal round against fourth-seeded Tampa. In that victory over the Spartans, junior attacker Kendall Kerge (Edgewater, Md.) scored school record and SSC Tournament record eight goals to help the Mocs to its semifinal round victory.
FSC comes into a game sporting an offense that has scored 250 goals, including Kerge scoring an SSC-best 48 goals, which is tied for fourth-most on the school's single season chart. In addition to Kerge, sophomore attacker Meghan O'Brien (Rochester, N.Y.) leads the league in both assists (36) and points (62).
While its offense has been strong this season, the Mocs defense has been even stronger as they are allowing just seven goals per game and lead the SSC in both caused turnovers (251) and ground balls (372). Senior defender Rachael Griffith (Ellicott City, Md.) leads the way in caused turnovers with 33 and has picked up 27 ground balls, while senior defender Gabby Barowski (Alexandria, Va.) leads the way in ground balls with 49 and has caused 26 turnovers and is second among active Division II players in career caused turnovers with 112.
Meanwhile, Rollins comes into Sunday's SSC Championship game having won five of its last six games to improve to 14-2 on the season. The Tars, who are ranked third in the most recent NCAA Division II South Region rankings, earned a rematch with the Mocs on Sunday after picking up a hard-fought 15-14 victory over third-seeded Florida Tech in Friday's other semifinal game. In the win against the Panthers, the Tars held a 9-5 halftime and led 15-10 with a little over eight minutes left in the game, before Tech rallied to score four straight goals in the final six-plus minutes.
In the win over the Panthers, Tyler Thomas, who was the SSC Player of the Year in 2015, scored five goals, while Paige Brock added three goals in the win. The game featured a combined 60 shots, 62 fouls and a combined 43 turnovers.
On the season, the Tars are second in the league in scoring as they are averaging nearly 13 goals per game and are allowing a little over 6.5 goals per game on defense. Leading the way offensively for the Tars is Thomas and SSC Freshman of Year Kallie German. On the season, those two players have combined to score 82 of Rollins' 201 goals (40.8 percent) as Thomas is second in the league with 44 goals and German is sixth in the SSC with 38 goals. Defensively, the Tars are led by sophomore goalie Malorie Olin as she leads the SSC in save percentage (53.1 percent) and is second in goals against average (6.67).
Both Florida Southern and Rollins will get to continue their season following Sunday's game as both teams are expected to earn a berth in this year's NCAA Tournament when the field is unveiled by the NCAA on May. 8. In this week's latest NCAA Division II South Region rankings, the Mocs are ranked first and are in line to serve as one of the two host schools in the South Region, while Rollins is ranked third.
Last season, both FSC and Rollins advanced to the NCAA Tournament as the Mocs were a No. 3 seed and fell in double overtime in the first round at No. 2 seeded Lindenwood (Mo.), while Rollins earned the a No. 4 seed and fell in the first round at No. 1 seed Lock Haven.
This season, the NCAA allotted two more spots from each region into the NCAA Tournament so six teams will now earn spots in the NCAA Tournament with the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds hosting first and second round games on May 13-14.
Sunday's game will mark the second meeting this season between the two rivals and the eighth meeting overall in the series with the Mocs holding a slight 4-3 edge. The Mocs are 2-2 against the Tars in Lakeland and are 2-1 in Winter Park against the Tars.
