LAKELAND, Fla. – The Florida Southern College men's lacrosse team had a record-breaking evening, in a 27-15 rout of Palm Beach Atlantic University on Wednesday night.
Several records fell, as the Mocs scored 11 unanswered goals across the second and third quarters.
Jeff Atlas recorded 15 total points, coming on six goals and nine assists.
Sean Nolan also had six goals, and added three assists
HOW IT HAPPENED
1st Quarter
- The teams exchanged one-goal leads for the entirety of the quarter.
- Junior attack Sean Nolan started the game with a bang, hitting the twine just nine seconds in, off a feed from fellow attackman Jeff Atlas.
- After PBA took a 2-1 lead, Atlas scored his first of the game to tie it at two apiece.
- Junior midfielder Craig Connor then scored his second goal of the season to regain the lead for the Mocs.
- PBA scored the last two goals of the quarter to give the Sailfish a 4-3 lead heading to the second quarter.
2nd Quarter
- Florida Southern began the quarter strong once again, with senior midfielder Carson Wallace scoring just 47 seconds in to tie the game at 4.
- The Sailfish responded with a goal less than 30 seconds later to regain the lead.
- Junior midfielder Edward May scored a pair of goals in under a minute to give Florida Southern a 6-5 lead.
- Nolan and Atlas connected for a second time, giving the Mocs a 7-5 lead, the first two-goal lead for either team.
- PBA scored to cut the deficit to one, before Wallace scored a man-up goal to give Florida Southern an 8-6 lead.
- The Sailfish responded with another goal that cut the deficit to one for just seven seconds, as Nolan scored a man-down goal with a feed from senior middie Kevin Horwitz directly off of the face-off, to make the score 9-7.
- Connor and May each tallied another goal to end the quarter, giving the Mocs an 11-7 lead heading to the half.
3rd Quarter
- Florida Southern erupted for eight goals to start the half.
- Junior attack Cody Bielec forced a turnover, and defenseman Griffin Phillips made a nice feed, as Atlas scored his second of the day to give Florida Southern a 12-7 lead.
- The Atlas-Nolan connection struck for a third time, as Nolan scored to give the Mocs a six-goal lead.
- Senior Chris Cariello connected with Atlas on a fast break to push the score to 14-7.
- Wallace scored an unassisted goal on a dodge straight to the net to earn his second of the game.
- Freshman Jack Atlas picked up his first career goal with the assist coming from no other than his own brother, Jeff Atlas, giving Florida Southern a 16-7 lead.
- Phillips scored off of a feed from Jeff Atlas to push the lead to ten goals.
- Atlas scored less than a minute later, with an assist from Nolan, who then picked up a goal of his own to make it 19-7.
- The Sailfish stopped the onslaught with a goal at 9:34.
- Cody Bielec scored his first of the game to put the Mocs ahead 20-8 with a man-up goal.
- PBA picked up a pair of goals to end the quarter, cutting the Moccasin lead to 10.
4th Quarter
- May scored his fourth goal of the evening to push the lead to 21-10 with a strike 51 seconds into the frame.
- Junior goalie Maxwell Freestone launched a full-field pass to Jeff Atlas, who connected with Bielec in front of the cage to give the Mocs their 22nd goal of the evening.
- After another Sailfish goal, May scored his fifth of the day to give the Mocs a 23-11 lead.
- Jeff Atlas assisted Nolan again, as the Mocs reached 24 goals.
- Atlas scored on a left-handed rip, as the Mocs tied their record for third-most goals in a game with 25.
- Sandwiched between a pair of PBA tallies, freshman Ryley Cole scored a behind-the-back strike to earn his first career goal, with an assist from junior Noah Hess, who also picked up his first career point.
- After three consecutive Sailfish goals cut the score to 26-15, Jeff Atlas picked up his 6th goal to put Florida Southern up 27-15.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
- The teams combined for 42 goals, the highest total in a game in Moccasin history.
- In all, nine different Mocs scored goals tonight.
- The Mocs scored three man-up goals, and two man-down goals.
- Florida Southern's 27 goals is a new school record for goals scored against a conference opponent, and third all-time against all opponents.
- Sean Nolan and Jeff Atlas lead the way with six goals apiece. Nolan finished with nine total points while Atlas finished with 15, breaking the record for most assists and points in a game in Moccasin History. The previous records, set by Nolan in 2019, were 7 and 12, respectively.
- Horwitz won 26 of 41 face-offs, tying the record for most face-offs won in a game in Moccasin history. Horwitz was also credited with 14 ground balls, good for second all-time.
- Freestone made 15 saves between the pipes tonight.
UP NEXT
Florida Southern travels to the University of Tampa to take on the Spartans on Saturday, May 1
st at 8 p.m.
