LAKELAND, Fla. - The No. 11 Florida Southern College women's lacrosse team won their final regular-season home game of the year, upending the Florida Tech Panthers, 20-6, on Wednesday night.
Brittany Iamele earned the win, coming away with six first-half saves as
Madison Tare continued her torrid pace, scoring five goals to lead the Moccasins (11-3, 3-2 SSC) past the visiting Panthers (8-5, 1-5 SSC).
The Mocs continue to represent as the top-shooting team in Division II, scoring 20 goals on just 28 total shots. The team entered play on Wednesday with the best shooting percentage in the country, at 55.0%.
Tare scored her first of the game less than a minute in, giving the Mocs an early lead that they would never relinquish.
Lizzy Lynch followed up with her first of three goals on the day to give the team a 2-0 lead before the Panthers responded to even the score.
Marlee Moon Gaddy scored her twentieth goal of the season as the teams continued to exchange goals in the early goings of the first quarter.
Ellie Griffin,
Abby McFerren,
Hailey Daleo, and Tare each scored in succession to put the Moccasins up by four to end the quarter. The goal-scoring streak started a 15-1 run that extended for the entirety of the middle two quarters.
The Panthers tallied first in the second quarter, making it 7-4. That would be the closest the score would be for the remainder of the contest.
Tare scored three goals in the second quarter, while Lynch, McFerren, and Daleo each scored again to break the game open at the half—the Mocs led 13-4 after 30.
In the third quarter, the scoring run continued. Griffin scored two more goals, while McFerren, Gaddy, and Daleo tallied as the Mocs took a 17-4 lead into the final frame.
Katie Yeagle scored her first of the game in the fourth quarter to put the Mocs up 19-5, and with just over two minutes remaining,
Samantha O'Neill found the back of the net for the first time this season off of a nice feed from
Olivia Manghisi.
The game wound up finishing 20-6 by the final horn, with the Mocs earning a crucial conference win.
Florida Southern has two games remaining on the regular-season schedule: April 23
rd at Palm Beach Atlantic, and April 24
th at Lynn University.
The top four teams in the conference will qualify for the postseason Sunshine State Conference tournament, which will begin on April 28
th.
