#14 Mocs Seek Program's First SSC Championship at #1 Tampa

LAKELAND, Fla. – The 14^th-ranked and third-seeded Florida Southern men's lacrosse team will travel to top-ranked and top-seeded Tampa Sunday afternoon for the Sunshine State Conference Tournament Championship. The 2022 SSC Tournament Championship game appearance is the first for the Moccasins since 2014 and second overall in the program's history. 

The first 100 Florida Southern students, with a valid FSC ID, will receive a pair of Florida Southern Sunglasses at the gate to cheer on both the women's and men's teams in the SSC title games. The 11th-ranked Florida Southern women's lacrosse team will take on 12th-ranked Tampa at noon for the women's Sunshine State Conference Championship while the men will square off at 3:30 p.m.


Location: Tampa, Fla.
Stadium: Naimoli Family Athletic and Intramural Complex
Opening Faceoff: 3:30 p.m.
Coverage: Live Stats – www.fscmocs.com/stats; Video – www.fscmocs.com/live


3rd Seed – The Moccasins – Roster | Schedule | Coaches | Statistics
No. 14 Florida Southern earned the program's first road Sunshine State Conference Tournament victory Thursday night as the Mocs defeated No. 10 Rollins 12-11 in overtime in Winter Park. The victory gave the Mocs 12 wins for the season which set a new program record and it also marked the third win over a top-10 ranked opponent this season which is also a new program record.  
 
The Mocs have won eight of their last 10 contests with their two losses coming at No. 1 Tampa and on the road at then-No. 14 Florida Tech 14-13 in overtime. All five of the Mocs losses have come to top-15 ranked programs while FSC boasts a trio of top-10 victories including a 12-10 victory over then-No. 1 Le Moyne at home, a 16-11 victory over No. 10 Rollins in Lakeland and Thursday night's semifinal victory over No. 10 Rollins in Winter Park, 12-11 in overtime.

Senior Jeff Atlas leads the Mocs offensive attack as he has already set the single season and career records for assists and points in 2022. He has 44 goals, 47 assists and 91 points this season while ranking fifth in the NCAA in assists per game (2.76) and seventh in points per game (5.35). He leads the SSC in both categories as well. Fellow senior Sean Nolan has been the go-to scorer for the Mocs as he has already tallied 56 goals this season to go along with 24 assists for 80 points. He currently ranks 12^th in the NCAA in goals per game (3.29) and 17^th in points per game (4.71). He ranks second in the SSC in goals per game and third in points per game. Atlas was named First Team All-Conference as well as SSC Offensive Player of the Week three times this season while Nolan earned Second Team All-Conference honors and was named the league's Offensive Player of the Week this past Monday. The Mocs had one other OPOTW and that was freshman Matt Flammenspeck who ranks third on the team in goals with 27 this season and he was named the SSC Freshman of the Year.
 
On the defensive side of the field, sophomores Nick Shannon and Zac Fitzgerald patrol opposite sides of the field and have caused a combined 59 turnovers this season including 35 from Shannon and 24 from Fitzgerald. Shannon ranks 11^th in the NCAA in caused turnovers per game (2.06) while Fitzgerald ranks 53^rd (1.41). The duo along with the rest of their defensive teammates are backed up by senior goalie Maxwell Freestone who has posted a 10-4 record this season with an 11.45 goals against average. He has faced over 500 shots this season and has a .519 saves percentage with 164 total stops. He was named SSC Defensive Player of the Week twice this season while Shannon brought home the final SSC DPOTW honor this past Monday. The pair were also named Second Team All-Conference on Thursday for their performances throughout the season.
 
Senior Kevin Horwitz has been one of the top faceoff specialists in the entire country this season as he has had a record-breaking 2022. He has obliterated both the single season and career records at FSC from ground balls and faceoff victories. He currently has a team-best 182 ground balls, over 90 more than the previous record, and 309 faceoff victories, over 100 more than the previous record holder. He currently ranks fourth in the NCAA in ground balls per game (10.71) and seventh in faceoff winning percentage (.663). He was named First Team All-Conference Thursday as well. He was also named SSC Specialist of the Week six times in his career including five times in 2022. He became just the third men's lacrosse student-athlete in conference history to earn five weekly awards in one season and the 44th student-athlete in any conference sport.  
 
As a team, the Mocs lead the SSC in assists per game (9.41) and points per game (24.94) while ranking second in goals per game (15.53). The Mocs also lead the conference in ground balls per game (39.18) and faceoff winning percentage (.649) while ranking second in saves percentage (.516) and third in goals against average (11.28). Overall in the NCAA the team ranks second in total assists (160) and total points (424) while ranking third in total ground balls (666). The Mocs also rank seventh in faceoff winning percentage (.649), seventh in assist per game (9.41), eighth in points per game (24.94) and eighth in ground balls per game (39.18).
 
1st Seed – The Spartans – Roster | Schedule | Coaches | Statistics
No. 1 Tampa is a perfect 17-0 this season and have not lost a game since May 16, 2021 when the Spartans fell 16-15 in overtime to No. 3 Lenoir-Rhyne in the NCAA Quarterfinals. The Spartans have not dropped a contest to a Sunshine State Conference foe since April 13, 2019 when the Spartans fell 11-10 to Lynn, a streak that will reach 1,114 days by Sunday's Championship.
 
The Spartans have been led this season offensively by senior Colin White who leads the team with 42 goals and 62 points while junior Harry Kilkowski leads the team with 34 assists. Overall, the Spartans have four athletes with 30-or-more goals this season.
 
Defensively, junior Matthew Beddow leads the way with 36 caused turnovers. He was recently named the 2022 Sunshine State Conference Player of the Year for his efforts as well. He ranks eighth in the NCAA in caused turnovers per game (2.12) and he is second on the Spartans team with 61 ground balls. Beddow and his defensive teammates try to protect the cage and junior goalkeeper Blake Ulmer. Ulmer is a perfect 17-0 this season with an impressive 8.84 goals against average. He has 232 saves and a .625 saves percentage. He currently ranks second in the NCAA in saves percentage, ninth in goals against average and 11^th in saves per game. Ulmer leads the SSC in all three of those categories as well.  
 
At the face, the Spartans have relied on junior Hunter Turner who has won 218 of his 362 attempts (.602) and leads the team with 98 ground balls. He currently ranks second in the SSC in faceoff percentage and fourth in ground balls per game.
 
The Spartans rank among the top-10 in the NCAA in several categories including ranking second in man-down defense (.833) and saves (245), third in points (403), fourth in ground balls (637), seventh in scoring margin (6.82), eighth in clearing percentage (.882) and shot percentage (.345), ninth in scoring offense (15.59) and 10^th in assists (138) and caused turnovers per game (10.94).
   
Head-to-Head
Florida Southern is just 1-16 all-time against the Spartans including 0-2 in 2022. The Spartans have won 15-straight over the Mocs dating back to 2013. The lone victory for Florida Southern in the series came on April 12, 2012 as FSC defeated Tampa 11-7 in semifinals of the 2012 Deep South Conference Tournament which was played in Tampa. The Mocs and Spartans have met three times in SSC Tournament action with the Spartans first defeating the Mocs 11-6 in the 2014 SSC Championship game before knocking the Mocs out of the 2016 and 2017 tournaments in the semifinals. All three match-ups took place at Tampa.   

Last Meeting
Meeting for the second time in 2022, the then-12th-ranked Florida Southern men's lacrosse team tried to avenge an early season loss against top-ranked Tampa on the road but the Spartans used a strong defensive effort and timely goals to take away a 17-8 victory. The Moccasins held an early lead but strong second and third quarters by the Spartans gave Tampa the edge.
 
Junior Jay Minor and freshmen Matt Flammenspeck and Brendan Glasser led the offensive effort as the Spartans held Florida Southern points leaders Jeff Atlas and Sean Nolan to just one point combined. Minor picked up his third hat trick of the season with three goals off of seven shots including five on goal. Flammenspeck also picked up a hat trick. He scored his trio of goals off of six shots including five on frame. He also grabbed a pair of ground balls. Glasser earned three points with a pair of goals and an assist. He took just two shots in the game, both finding the back of the net.
 
Senior Kevin Horwitz picked up a team-high seven ground balls while winning 14 of his 25 faceoffs. Senior Maxwell Freestone suffered the loss in goal moving to 7-3 on the season, Freestone made 13 saves in the loss.
 
A trio of Spartans all scored three goals and had an assist to share the team lead with four points each. Spartan goalkeeper Blake Ulmer made 12 saves while allowing eight goals.

2022 SSC Tournament
After winning the program's sixth regular-season championship, the University of Tampa claimed the No. 1 seed in the postseason tournament. The Spartans held a 16-0 overall record and are ranked No. 1 nationally by multiple outlets. Rollins was awarded the No. 2 seed following tiebreakers with No. 3 Florida Southern and No. 4 Florida Tech. The Tars, Moccasins, and Panthers finished the season knotted at 5-2 in the league standings.
 
The Spartans came from behind to defeat fourth-seeded Florida Tech, 15-9, in Tampa. Colin White tallied three goals and two assists, while Harry Kilkowski scored once and registered four assists. The pair tied for the game-high in points. Matthew Beddow caused a game-high four turnovers in the victory. FSC won an overtime thriller against second-seeded Rollins, 12-11, in Winter Park. Sean Nolan took matters into his own hands on Thursday night, scoring a game-high five goals in the win. Nolan tallied five of the last six Moccasin goals, including the game-winner in OT. Kevin Horwitz  took all 27 faceoffs for FSC, coming away from the X with 15 wins and 10 ground balls. Maxwell Freestone stopped 10 of Rollins' 21 shots on goal during 61.5 minutes in goal.

Since the Sunshine State Conference began holding men's lacrosse tournaments, the Spartans have won all six Championships dating back to 2014. The league did not hold a tournament in 2020 or 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.