Men's Basketball Feb 17, 2022

Mocs Minutes: Busy Weekend for FSC Athletics

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Opponent | Date | Time: Saint Leo | February 18, 2022 | 6:00 PM
Opponent | Date | Time: Saint Leo | February 19, 2022 | 1:00 PM
Opponent | Date | Time: Saint Leo | February 20, 2022 | 1:00 PM
Location: Lakeland, Fla. | Henley Field
Records: Florida Southern 3-4 | Saint Leo 6-3
Florida Southern returns to Lakeland for their home opener after spending two weeks on the road. The Mocs outlasted the Eckerd Tritons on Tuesday night in a 9-7 win over 15 innings. The win was the longest game against a conference opponent in Moccasin history. Florida Southern capitalized in two-out scenarios hitting .429, including most of their four-run recovery in the fourth inning and lead in the game. After alternating scores in the seventh, Florida Southern had a 7-6 lead into the bottom of the ninth, before the Tritons tied the game 7-7. Both teams battled through five scoreless extra innings before Jeff Liquori smashed a two-run homer, his second home run of the day, to take the lead. The Mocs fended off the Tritons in the bottom of the 15th and secured the win.
This weekend's series will be the first conference play for the Moccasins as the Tuesday night game against Eckerd was a non-conference setup. The Mocs continued to rely on the deep ball with 12 home runs registered in the first seven games, including five from Liquori, who also leads with a .333 batting average and 11 RBIs. Graduate transfer Jared DeSantolo has notched eight runs scored. On the mound the Mocs continue to utilize a deep roster. Aric McAtee was named SSC and NCBWA South Region Pitcher of the Week after his winning performance at USC Aiken last week. Ryan Langford leads with a 1.42 ERA, including seven clutch strikeouts in extra innings against the Tritons in a team effort to secure a Mocs win.
Saint Leo travels to Lakeland after an 8-7 loss to Valdosta State on Wednesday. The Lions were led by Sam Crail who went 3-for-5 with three runs and an RBI. Buck Anderson went 2-for-4 with a run and RBI as well. Saint Leo tied the game in the top of the ninth inning, but unable to hold on as the Blazers win with a walk-off RBI triple and 8-7 win.
Despite the loss, the Lions are 6-3 overall, including series wins over Flagler College and a sweep over Mars Hill to start their season. This weekend's series will be the first conference series for both teams. Saint Leo has two athletes hitting over .400 as Mike Wyman (.474) and Adrien Roa (.471) represented. Crail leads the SSC with a whopping 15 runs scored over nine games with Bobby Sparling with 14 RBIs on an SSC-high 16 hits. On the mound the Lions are led by Jared Beck, who lauds a .091 opposing batting average and a conference high 20 strikeouts.

Opponent: Saint Leo
Date|Time: February 18-19, 2022 | 7 PM 1/3:00 PM
Location: Saint Leo, Fla. | University Softball Stadium
Records: Florida Southern 6-3 | Saint Leo 6-2
Florida Southern opened up the North Georgia tournament last weekend going undefeated on day one. The Mocs beat Davis & Elkins 11-4 and later defeated No. 22 Texas A&M - Commerce 8-2. Unfortunately FSC's three game win streak came to an end when the Mocs fell to No. 5 host North Georgia on the final day 10-2 and 8-0 to close out the weekend.
On the season, seniors Myah Moy and Jadin Dewith are leading the way after the weekend performances. Moy is 14-for-30 on the season followed by Dewith going 10-for-23 both with four runs. Freshman Destiny Colgate is still the lone Moc with a homer on the season but brings in eight runners along with Moy with eight RBIs on the season. Pitching is a team effort with five having at least one winner under their belt. Lane Edgington owes the lowest ERA with a 2.24 pitching one complete game and striking out five. Junior Mel Rogers is 1-2 striking out the most batters with 26 total strikeouts in four appearances.
Saint Leo is currently supporting almost the same start as FSC with six wins. The Lions started their season splitting games both days during the Gulf Shore Invitational and are currently on a four game win streak winning all the games during their final tournament. Saint Leo defeated Lenoir-Rhyne 5-1 and 6-1 over the course and beat Newberry 13-5 and 6-3 to close it out.
On the season, the Lions are being led by Emily Pilon with a .522 batting average going 12-for-23 with three home runs and bringing in 11 runners. Redshirt sophomore also has three homer runs on the season with two homers against Newberry on Feb. 12 for three RBIs totalling four RBIs on the season for a .400 batting average. Only three pitchers have stepped into the circle for Saint Leo as the team is relying on junior Rachel Bean who owns an 3-0 record and supports a 0.78 ERA in two complete games. Sophomore, Kayla Betts has the most strikeouts with 28 followed by Bean with 13 and Morgan Shannon with 12. Shannon is 2-0 on the season with a 3.11 ERA.
HISTORY this is both teams first conference series of the year. In the last meet up the Lions won in the bottom of ninth scoring four runs. However, the Mocs lead the series with 87 wins in 130 meetings.

Opponent: #10 Limestone
Date|Time: February 19, 2022 | 12:00 PM
Location: Gaffney, S.C. | Saints Field
Records: Florida Southern 3-1 | #10 Limestone 2-0
Florida Southern improved to 3-1 Thursday night after a 21-13 victory at Belmont Abbey. The Moccasins scored 20-plus goals in a game for the third time this season tying a program record for most games with 20-plus goals in a season with 13 games still left on the schedule.
Senior Kevin Horwitz, who has won back-to-back Sunshine State Conference Specialist of the Week honors, broke a pair of school record at Belmont Abbey. He picked up a single game record 18 ground balls against the Crusaders while also breaking the career record at FSC for ground balls with 327. He currently has 55 ground balls this season through four games and is just 35 away from tying the single season record at FSC which was set in 2013.
The Mocs high-powered offense has been propelled by junior Jeff Atlas who has handed out a conference-high 17 assists while scoring eight goals for a total of 25 points which also ranks first among SSC members. Sophomore Thomas Frank and junior Sean Nolan have been the go-to scorers for FSC this season as they each have 13 goals. Junior transfer Jay Minor is right behind with 12 goals. All three scorers rank among the top-four in the SSC this season.
No. 10 Limestone is 2-0 so far this season with a season-opening 20-9 victory over then-ranked No. 11 Belmont Abbey on the road before taking down SSC member Saint Leo 17-7 at home. The Saints are 16-5 since the beginning of the 2020 season including 4-1 in 2020, 10-4 in 2021 and 2-0 so far in 2022.
Sophomore Chris Erneston IV leads the Saints with seven goals through two games. Freshman Mike McGarry is right behind with six goals while the rest of the squad has three goals or fewer on the year. The Saints have won just 44.8 percent of their faceoffs which could prove to be a determining factor in the contest with FSC's Horwitz being a dominant force at the X. The Saints have a graduate student in goal in the form of William Baxter who has an 8.01 goals against average with 23 total saves.
HISTORY: Limestone holds a 6-0 all-time record against the Mocs with the most recent meeting taking place back during the 2016 season. The Mocs and Saints met in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015 and 2016 with three games in Lakeland and three in Gaffney. The Saints won the most recent meeting 23-15 in Lakeland on March 12, 2016.

Opponent: No. 12/15 Eckerd
Date|Time: February 19, 2022 | 5:30 PM
Location: Lakeland, Fla. | George W. Jenkins Field House
Records: Florida Southern 16-8, 14-4 SSC | Eckerd 17-2, 13-4
Florida Southern The Mocs are currently riding an eight game win streak where FSC's latest win came Wednesday night against Saint Leo in an overtime win that ended with a 78-76 score in favor of the Mocs.Florida Southern are continually being lead by graduate students Whitney Jacob and Julia Jenike who both finished with 23 points in the win. Jenike had nine boards along with Jacob bringing down seven. Reigning SSC player of the week Mackenzie Steele also finished in double-digit scoring with 13 points going 3-for-4 from beyond the arc.
On the season, Jenike and Jacob are both sitting in the top of the conference standings in scoring. In all games Jacob is second followed by Jenike in third, but for conference games only Jenike is sitting third averaging 16.4 points per game followed right behind is Jacob in fourth with a 16.1 average. Sara Wohlgemuth is second for assist/turnover ratio averaging 2.1 but then is averaging 3.7 assist per game to sit in third for assists in the conference.
In conference play, Florida Southern continued to sit second in the conference for their offensive performances and sits fourth defensively averaging 69.9 points per game. However, the Mocs are the No. 1 team from the 3-pointer and second in 3-point field goals made with 152 threes made in 397 attempts for a .383 average; averaging 8.4 per game.
Eckerd is currently on a three game winning streak where their only conference losses are against Florida Southern and No. 19/18 Tampa who just defeated the Tritons 56-67 at home.
On the season, Eckerd is shooting a .453 from the field and a .347 from beyond the arc. Maya Price is leading the Tritons averaging 14.4 points per game followed by Sofia Persson with a 13.4 average.
In conference play, EC are currently sitting right behind FSC in third place in the SSC and are fifth in conference play with offense averaging 66.4 points per game just under FSC's 69.4 points per game.
HISTORY The last time the Mocs and Tritons met was right off Eckerd's return from back-to-back forfeit games. FSC defeated Eckerd by one with a 56-55 score. Since then the Tritons have moved up in the rankings from #20/12 and now sit #12/15.

Opponent: Eckerd
Date | Time: February 19, 2022 | 7:30 PM
Location:Lakeland, Fla. | Streamline Sale Arena, George W. Jenkins Field House
Records: Florida Southern 13-13, 10-8 SSC | Eckerd 5-15, 3-14 SSC SSC
Florida Southern edged Saint Leo 91-84 on the road Wednesday night. In the win, Jack Casale notched a major collegiate career milestone of 2,000 career points throughout his playing careers both at Saint Joseph's College of Maine and this year at Florida Southern. In the win over the Lions, Xavier Rhodes led all scorers with 24 points ahead of Luke Anderson's 23, Jack Casale's 20, and DeAndre Campbell's 10. Rhodes completed the double-double with 10 assists on the night.
On the season, Florida Southern's scoring average continues to climb as the Mocs average 80.9 points a game led by E.J. Dambreville and Xavier Rhodes who average 14.6 and 14.1 ppg, respectively. Jack Casale stands at 13.3 ppg.
In conference play, the Mocs, who average 81.3 ppg, currently sit in fifth place in the league standings. Dambreville, Rhodes, and Casale are the top three scorers with averages of 15.9, 14.3, and 13.1 a game, respectively. Luke Anderson is coming on as of late and averages 9.0 points per game in 14 SSC games played. Dambreville is the team leader in rebounds with 155 this season for a 9.1 average in league play.
Eckerd travels to Streamline Sale Arena at the George W. Jenkins Field House after dropping an 88-73 contest at Embry-Riddle Wednesday night in which the Tritons saw Daniel Love lead EC in scoring with 19 points. GianFranco Grafals and David Swedura joined in double-digits with 16 and 10, respectively.
On the season, the Tritons average 71.0 points a game as the team leader Grafals averages 20.8 points a game through 18 games played. Eckerd's lone partner in double-figures to Grafals is Daniel Love at 17.9; Swedura is close at 9.6 ppg.
In conference play, Grafals and Love continue to lead the team in scoring with 21.4 and 18.9 points per game, respectively, as the Tritons increase their per game tally to 72.3 a game.
HISTORY Florida Southern picked up series win no. 75 after escaping Eckerd 66-63 back on Jan. 8, 2022 in St. Petersburg. The Mocs stand at 75-40 overall against the Tritons and look to improve the home record of 41-14 Saturday. In the win in January, E.J. Dambreville led the Mocs in scoring with a team-high 27 points and hauled in 10 rebounds. Jack Casale joined in double-double play with 12 points and 13 rebounds. Eckerd's GianFranco Grafals led all scorers with 30 points in a full 40 minutes of action. The last time these two teams played in Lakeland, Florida Southern took home the win 109-75 on Feb. 19, 2020.

Tournament | Host Lady Moc Classic | Florida Southern College
Location | Course Lakeland, Fla. | Grasslands Golf and Country Club
Florida Southern hosts the stacked Lady Moc Classic Feb. 21-22 at the Grasslands Golf and Country Club after placing seventh of 21 teams at the World Golf Invitational, Feb. 7-8. The team finished with a 618 (+42) two-round total while Loren Perez paced the team in 27th place at 10-over 154.
Joining Perez inside the top-40 players were Nathalie Svensson and Hanna Rizzolo. Svensson finished tied for 29th at 11-oer 155 while Rizzolo tied for 36th at 12-over 156. Lacey Tucker, Elizabeth Harding, and Brianna Farrell all finished the tournament with the one stroke difference that the top three players, Perez, Svensson and Rizzolo had as Tucker finished at 13-over 157, Harding 14-over 158, and Farrell 15-over 159.
The Lady Moc Classic will feature 15 teams and 20 individuals for a field of 95 players. There are 10 of the 15 teams receiving votes or ranked inside the top-25 of the Mizuno WGCA Coaches Poll (Nov. 19) and nine ranked inside the top-25 of the GolfStat Team Rankings (Feb. 15). This tournament features the no. 1 overall ranked team in both polls, Lynn University.
There will be 36-holes played Monday and 18-holes Tuesday to complete the 54-hole event with an 8:00 a.m. shotgun each day.
The Field (ranks: Mizuno WGCA Nov. 19/GolfStat) 1/1 Lynn, 3/4 Limestone, 4/2 Barry, T6/7 Anderson, T9/3 Nova Southeastern, T12/8 Rollins, 16/18 Tampa, 20/14 Saint Leo, 23/27 Flagler, RV/23 Florida Southern, --/34 Embry-Riddle, --/40 North Georgia, --/60 West Florida, --/73 Eckerd, --/87 Palm Beach Atlantic

Opponent | Date | Time: Eckerd College | February 21, 2022 | 3:00 PM
Location Lakeland, Fla. | Wynee Warden Tennis Center
Records: Florida Southern 0-1, 0-1 SSC | Eckerd 0-0, 0-0 SSC
Florida Southern dropped their home opener against No. 10 Lynn University 5-2 last Friday. Their match against No. 1 Barry was postponed due to weather conditions. Despite the loss to Lynn, the Mocs had a close doubles play which the teams split the first two matches, courtesy of the pairing of Maxima Ellenberg and Flor Salerno, but lost their last double match as the Fighting Knights took the point. Isabella Bolivar had a great two-set win over her opponent to give Florida Southern their first team point, but Lynn continued to gather wins. Mathilda Vidgren took No. 23 Giorgia Pignato to a 7-6 (7-3) second set, but unable to finish. Fighting through adversity, Minnie Kim showed fantastic grit to win in three sets for the second point for the Mocs.
Eckerd will open their 2022 spring season in a busy start playing three matches over four days. The Tritons will host the University of Tampa and Nova Southeastern before making the trip to Lakeland. Eckerd returns four student-athletes into the spring season. They are led by the Theo Shultz, who has appeared in 38 matches in her career, and three freshmen Alexis Kwasnik, Lili Reichert, and Julia Triska. Newcomers for the Tritons include Ericka Chavarria from Mercer University, Raia Jagger from Holy Names University, and freshman Kylie Misdorp.

Opponent | Date | Time: Eckerd College | February 21, 2022 | 3:00 PM
Location Lakeland, Fla. | Wynee Warden Tennis Center
Records: Florida Southern 0-2, 0-1 SSC | Eckerd 0-0, 0-0 SSC
Florida Southern will have their home opener in a dual meet Monday against Eckerd after their initial home opener was postponed due to weather conditions. Last time out the Mocs lost 6-1 in a team score against Flagler College, who is registering votes in the latest ITA Division II rankings. Senior Oscar Sohl had the sole singles point win for the Mocs in a 6-2, 6-4 decision. Built off his great performance, and near upset of No. 3 singles player in the nation last week, Valentin Hertweck nearly won the first set against Oscar Del Granado 7-6 (7-2) but lost the second set as well in an overall loss.
With two difficult opponents to start the spring 2022 season, the Mocs continue to improve and adjust their lineups. To open the season head coach Greg Van Emburgh emphasized a deep roster and the expectation for each of the players to give their best and always stay ready. They will continue to make those adjustments, looking for their first win of the spring season.
Eckerd travels to Lakeland for their first match of the spring 2022 season. The Tritons are running with a relatively new squad as they have three freshmen and three sophomores to make up the team. Sam Walker joined from the IMG Academy, as Pierre-Olivier Lassalle joins from Radford University. Arthur Fonseca, Christian Kearns, and Prakrut Patel represented Eckerd College in the ITA Division II South Regional Championships back in September, hosted by FSC. Although they were unable to tally a singles win, the pairing of Kearns and Fonseca made their way to the consolation quarterfinals during doubles competition .

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Players Mentioned

#21 Julia Jenike: G; 5' 11"; Graduate Student; Communications

#14 Mackenzie Steele: G; 5' 10"; Redshirt Junior

#15 Sara Wohlgemuth: G; 5' 4"; Redshirt Freshman

#22 Whitney Jacob: F; 5' 11"; Graduate Student

#5 DeAndre Campbell: G; 6' 1"; Redshirt Junior

#3 Xavier Rhodes: G; 6' 1"; Redshirt Junior

#0 Jack Casale: G; 6' 6"; Graduate Student

#44 Luke Anderson: F; 6' 7"; Freshman

#14 Ryan Langford: RHP; 6' 1"; Senior; R/R

#6 Jeff Liquori: LHP/1B; 6' 1"; Sophomore; L/L

Players Mentioned

#21 Julia Jenike
: 5' 11"; Graduate Student; Communications
: G

#14 Mackenzie Steele
: 5' 10"; Redshirt Junior
: G

#15 Sara Wohlgemuth
: 5' 4"; Redshirt Freshman
: G

#22 Whitney Jacob
: 5' 11"; Graduate Student
: F

#5 DeAndre Campbell
: 6' 1"; Redshirt Junior
: G

#3 Xavier Rhodes
: 6' 1"; Redshirt Junior
: G

#0 Jack Casale
: 6' 6"; Graduate Student
: G

#44 Luke Anderson
: 6' 7"; Freshman
: F

#14 Ryan Langford
: 6' 1"; Senior; R/R
: RHP

#6 Jeff Liquori
: 6' 1"; Sophomore; L/L
: LHP/1B

Florida Southern College

Scoreboard

Mocs Minutes: Busy Weekend for FSC Athletics

Players Mentioned

#21 Julia Jenike

#14 Mackenzie Steele

#15 Sara Wohlgemuth

#22 Whitney Jacob

#5 DeAndre Campbell

#3 Xavier Rhodes

#0 Jack Casale

#44 Luke Anderson

#14 Ryan Langford

#6 Jeff Liquori

Players Mentioned

#21 Julia Jenike

#14 Mackenzie Steele

#15 Sara Wohlgemuth

#22 Whitney Jacob

#5 DeAndre Campbell

#3 Xavier Rhodes

#0 Jack Casale

#44 Luke Anderson

#14 Ryan Langford

#6 Jeff Liquori

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