LAKELAND, Fla. - No. 11 Florida Southern women's lacrosse advances to its sixth straight Sunshine State Conference Championship game after defeating no. 14 Rollins College 17-11 at Berend Field in the semifinal matchup Thursday afternoon.
Florida Southern (15-3) moves to 10-1 at home and will travel to Tampa to play the 12th-ranked Spartans Sunday at Naimoli Family Athletic and Intramural Complex.
Brittany Iamele and
Patricia Werker split time in goal to give the Moccasins the win where Werker, who earned the win in goal, tallied five saves with Iamele making two.
Abby McFerren,
Hailey Daleo and
Lizzy Lynch all scored four goals for the Mocs while
Madison Tare had two, and
Marlee Moon Gaddy,
Ellie Griffin, and
Katie Yeagle all had one.
Florida Southern opened up with a 6-1 lead in the first period, and a 3-0 start, with goals from
Lizzy Lynch,
Hailey Daleo, and
Marlee Moon Gaddy. Rollins poked one in the back of the cage with 7:37 to play before the Mocs closed the first period with three unanswered from
Abby McFerren, Lynch and
Madison Tare.
Rollins (13-4) used a 5-3 second period to cut the gap to 9-6 in favor of FSC.
Ellie Griffin would convert the first goal of the second period to give the Mocs momentum but Rollins would rip off three straight to make it 7-4. Lynch and McFerren would be split by a pair of Rollins goals for a 9-6 advantage heading into the break.
Both teams would find the back of the net three times in the third period where Rollins opened the new half with a goal at the 13:14 mark, making it 10-7. Tare would convert the woman-up free position shot to push the lead back to four but the Tars wouldn't be silenced just yet, finding the back of the net for a 10-8 game. Daleo and McFerren would each score to give the Mocs a cushion and a 12-8 lead followed by a Rollins goal to close the period as Florida Southern held on for a 12-9 lead through 45 minutes.
The Mocs would catch fire and score five unanswered goals to blow open the game with goals from Daleo, Lynch, Yeagle, McFerren, and Daleo again before the Tars found the net for a pair in the final frame.
Florida Southern advances to its sixth straight SSC tournament championship game after defeating the Tars and will face Tampa at a time yet to be determined, pending the results of the men's semifinal game being played later Thursday evening. The Spartans earned their birth to the championship game after knocking off fourth-seeded, No. 24 Saint Leo 19-6 Thursday afternoon.
For more information on the Sunshine State Conference tournament and the game time for the championship, stay tuned to sunshinestateconference.com/sports/wlax or on social media @FSC_MOCS, @FSC_WLAX, or @D2SSC.
