Box Score LAKELAND, Fla. – The No. 7 Florida Southern College women's lacrosse picked up a dominating victory over No. 6 Regis University on Friday afternoon. Junior goalie Brittany Iamele shined in goal for the Mocs as she made ten saves over the final 44 minutes. Southern is now 5-3 while Regis drops to 2-2.
Sophomore Brenna Smith led all scorers with five goals. Senior Riley Bannatyne added four goals and classmate Marina Jozokos tallied another three in the victory for the Mocs.
HOW IT HAPPENED
1st Half
- As 60 seconds rolled off the game clock, Smith easily took a feed from junior Maliah Benedetto and put the Mocs up 1-0. Regis would counter and tie the game at 1-1 just four minutes later. Southern would use goals from Jozokos and Benedetto to take a 3-1 lead at the 22:11 mark of the first half.
- Regis would use a 2-1 run to cut the Mocs lead to one as they got a women up goals and a free position goal. Less than a minute later the Rangers fired home their fourth goal of the afternoon to tie the game on a women up chance at 4-4 with 13:37 remaining in the first half.
- At this point, the home team would make a goalie switch and in came Iamele. Over the next two and a half minutes, Southern would go on a 4-0 run with two goals from Smith, and a goal from Jozokos and Bannatyne to push the lead to 8-4. Jozokos would close out the first half with a goal to make it a 9-4 Moccasin lead at the half.
2nd Half
- Regis would open the final 30 minutes with a goal just 80 seconds into the half to make it 9-5. At the 25:45 mark, the Rangers thought they had scored their sixth goal of the game but the goal was overturned as the officials signaled for an illegal stick.
- Southern would get the ball back and race down the field. Benedetto would see her shot saved by the Rangers goalie but senior Grace Glinecki was in the right spot to corral the groundball and keep possession with her team. Just seconds after Smith would send a free position shot high of the goal.
- As the Moccasins kept possession, Bannatyne would be awarded her own free position attempt. The senior from Winter Park, Fla. fired home her second goal of the game to give the Moccasins a 10-5 lead. This would spark an 8-0 run over the final 23 minutes of the game for the Mocs. Southern would get a pair of goals from Smith and Bannatyne, and a goal each from senior Julia Couch, Benedetto, and freshman Sammy Gorrasi. Gorrasi would score a free position goal in the closing seconds of the game for her third goal of the season.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
- Southern improved its all-time record over the Rangers to 3-0. All three victories come in Lakeland. This is the first Moccasin victory over Regis since 2015 and the first on Moccasin Field. Both previous games were played at Lakeland's Bryant Stadium.
- Smith led the Florida Southern attack with five goals. Bannatyne added four, Jozokos had three, Benedetto added another two, and three others also tallied goals.
- The Mocs recorded six assists for the second-straight game as Jozokos led the way with two and four others totaled one.
- Iamele came in in relief in goal for the Mocs. She would make 10 saves and allow just one goal in nearly 44 minutes played.
- Regis edged the Mocs at the draw control as they won 12 of the 22 draws. Each team converted three free-position shots into goals. Southern had seven chances while the visitors had eight.
- The Mocs caused nine of the Rangers 15 turnovers. Six of the Moccasins 12 turnovers were caused by Regis.
- Both teams had two failed clears as Southern was successful on 18-of-20 attempts and Regis had 14 clears on 16 chances.
UP NEXT
The Mocs are back in action at Moccasin Field on March 11 when they welcome Stonehill for a 7 p.m. opening draw.
