#12 Mocs Drop Heartbreaker in Overtime at #14 Panthers

MELBOURNE, Fla. – In another classic Sunshine State Conference battle the No. 12 Florida Southern men's lacrosse team fell on the road in overtime at No. 14 Florida Tech, 14-13, Saturday afternoon. The Mocs and Panthers battled for the entire 60 minutes but it was not enough to determine a winner as the Panthers found the golden goal just 47 seconds into the first overtime period.
 
The loss drops the Moccasins record to 10-5 overall and 4-2 in SSC action. The Panthers improved to 10-4 overall and 5-1 in league play.
 
Junior Sean Nolan led the Mocs with five goals and one assist for a six-point effort. The five goals marked his eighth hat trick of the season, tying him for third in the FSC Record Book for most hat tricks in a season. He already shares the record for hat tricks in a season with 10, which he achieved in 2019. He shares the record with Dane Sorensen (2012-15) who also had 10 in 2014. Nolan also picked up five ground balls in the loss.
 
Junior Jeff Atlas tallied a pair of goals and a pair of assists for a four-point effort. He also picked up four ground balls and had one caused turnover. Six other Mocs each scored one goal in the contest.
 
Senior Kevin Horwitz had a strong performance at the 'X' for the Mocs as he won 22 of his 31 attempts (.710). He also had a team-best 14 ground balls. Junior Maxwell Freestone made a season-high 20 saves in the loss as Florida Tech took 60 shots in the game including 34 on goal. The loss drops Freetone's record to 8-4 on the season.
 
Zach Rozgonyi and Collin Stewart led the Panthers with three goals each while Rozgonyi scored the game-winner in overtime.
 
Florida Tech jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead after the opening 9:30 of the contest and never trailed from that point on. The Mocs trailed 4-1 after the opening 15 minutes. An even 3-3 second quarter pushed the game into halftime at 7-4.
 
The Mocs came out firing in the second half, out-scoring the Panthers 6-3 in the third quarter. Nolan scored four of the six goals for the Mocs as the comeback was on. Nolan's final goal of the run, which came with 1:12 left in the third, tied the game at 10.
 
Florida Tech opened the fourth quarter with back-to-back goals which came nearly four minutes apart. Trailing by two the Mocs responded as Nolan scored just 53 seconds after the Panthers last goal to cut the deficit to one. Atlas found the back of the net just 1:23 later to tie the game once again. The Panthers retook the lead once again with 5:03 left in the game but it was freshman Brendan Glasser with the equalizer less than a minute later which would be the final tally of regulation.
 
Both teams had offensive opportunities over the final four minutes of regulation but neither team found the game-winner.  Overtime began unlike most of the game as the Panthers were able to win just their ninth faceoff of the game which led to an offensive opportunity which Florida Tech capitalized on scoring the game-winner just 47 seconds into the overtime period.
 
Florida Southern will be back in action next Saturday, April 23 at 1 p.m. as the Mocs host Palm Beach Atlantic in the regular season finale. The game will be Senior Day for several Mocs and will also be a chance for the 2022 team to capture a school record fifth Sunshine State Conference victory in a season and also tie the record for most wins in a season in program history with 11.
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