#12 Mocs Earn Top-10 Victory over #10 Tars

LAKELAND, Fla. – For the first time in program history, the 12^th-ranked Florida Southern men's lacrosse team earned its second win over a top-10 opponent in a season with a 16-11 victory over 10^th-ranked Rollins Wednesday night. The Moccasins now have seven all-time wins over top-10 ranked opponents but 2022 marks the first time the Mocs have defeated a pair of top-10 foes as FSC defeated then-top-ranked Le Moyne earlier this season.
 
The victory puts Florida Southern one win away from tying the record for most wins in a season as the Mocs improved to 10-4 and 4-1 in league play. The four Sunshine State Conference victories tie a program record for most SSC wins in a season. The Tars fell to 10-2 overall and 3-2 in league play.
 
The 16 goals scored by the Mocs in the victory were the most goals the Tars have given up all season in a game. Junior Jeff Atlas led the way for FSC Wednesday night as he scored four goals and dished out three assists to finish with seven points on the night. He took six shots which all were on goal and finished with one caused turnover. Senior Edward May, junior Sean Nolan and freshman Matt Flammenspeck all contributed hat tricks to the cause as the four Mocs accounted for 13 of the 16 goals.
 
Nolan finished with a team-high tying three assists as well to finish with six points. He took a team-high 12 shots in the victory with four on goal. May finished with 11 shots including five on goal while Flammenspeck did his damage with just five shots including three on goal.
 
Senior Kevin Horwitz was once again dominant at the 'X' for the Mocs as he won 24 of 31 faceoffs and dropped just two in the third and fourth quarters combined going 14 of 16 in the second half. Horwitz also led the team with 15 ground balls.
 
Sophomore Griffin Phillips led the defense with three caused turnovers while picking up seven ground balls of his own. Fellow sophomore Nick Shannon had a pair of caused turnovers while picking up six ground balls on defense.
 
In goal, junior Maxwell Freestone earned 11 saves to pick up his eighth win of the season, moving to 8-3 overall.
 
Jack Johnstone and Finn Jent led the Rollins effort as they each finished with four goals in the loss.
 
The Mocs jumped out to a quick start, out-scoring the Tars 6-1 over the opening 15 minutes of action. May scored all three of his goals in the opening period as he opened the scoring just under a minute and a half into the contest and then finished with two goals over the final 42 seconds of the first period to give the Mocs a 6-1 lead.
 
FSC kept things rolling in the second as they opened the stanza with back-to-back goals to open a commanding 8-1 lead with 12:43 left in the second. Three-straight goals by the Tars cut the deficit to just four but a late goal by Brendan Glasser gave the Mocs a 9-4 lead heading into halftime.
 
For just the third time this season and first since Feb. 12, the Mocs went scoreless in a quarter as FSC was unable to tally a goal in the third. The previous two scoreless quarters came in the first and third quarters of the Mocs 16-5 defeat at the hands of then-3^rd-ranked Tampa. Despite the Mocs being unable to score, the Tars only managed to find the back of the net three times in the period as FSC entered the fourth with a 9-7 lead.
 
After each team scored one goal in the opening three minutes of the fourth, the Mocs began a 5-0 run which opened the game back up and put things out of reach for the Tars. Atlas scored two of the five goals in the run and assisted on another.
 
The Mocs will not have much time to celebrate the victory as 14^th-ranked Florida Tech awaits the Mocs this Saturday, April 16. FSC will look for its third win over a top-15 opponent this season as the two teams will battle in Melbourne, Fla. starting at 11 a.m.
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