LAKELAND, Fla. - The fifth-ranked Florida Southern College women's lacrosse team defeated the fifteenth-ranked University of Tampa Spartans by a final score of 23-19 on Wednesday night in the Moccasins' Sunshine State Conference opener.
The combined 42 goals scored set a new record for scoring in a single game in Florida Southern history, as the Moccasins (9-1, 1-0 SSC) overcame the Spartans (5-6, 1-1 SSC) in a back-and-forth contest. Although Tampa scored 19 times,
Patricia Werker turned aside 11 of 26 shots she faced to earn her fifth win of the year.
Brenna Smith recorded her 100
th career point as a Moccasin and led the team with five goals and seven total points in the game, leading the Moccasins to their eighth straight win and first in conference play.
Lizzy Lynch scored the first goal of the game just 18 seconds in, finding the back of the net off a feed from
Abby McFerren. Lynch would go on to score five goals in the contest and McFerren set a career-high with six assists on the day.
The Spartans retaliated with an early goal before
Ellie Griffin and
Hailey Daleo each scored to give the Moccasins a 3-1 lead in the first three minutes of the game.
Tampa responded with three consecutive goals in a span of fewer than two minutes to claim its first lead of the day, 4-3, just over five minutes into the game. The quick, consecutive goals set the tone for what would wind up being a historically high-scoring game.
Smith scored her first goal of the day to tie the game at 4 before Lynch tallied her second of the quarter to give the Mocs a short-lived lead. The Spartans tallied twice in the remainder of the first quarter to give the visitors a 6-5 lead at the end of the first frame.
Madison Tare scored her first of five goals to open the second quarter and once again, even the score. Again, Tampa roared back with a pair of quick tallies to gather their first two-goal lead of the game, 8-6. Daleo, Lynch, and
Ellie Griffin each found the back of the net to keep the Spartans at bay despite a pair of strikes from the Tampa attack.
Smith scored her 100
th career point with nineteen seconds to play, finishing a McFerren feed to send the teams the halftime break knotted up at ten.
To start the second half, Tampa rattled off three consecutive goals before Tare stopped the bleeding with just over ten minutes to play, cutting the deficit to two, 13-11. The Spartans would respond and re-claim a three-goal lead before the Moccasins scored four unanswered to gather their first lead of the half.
Tare scored twice more, while McFerren and Daleo each tallied again on the mini scoring run to propel the Mocs ahead, 15-14. The Spartans' Madison Birch scored her fifth goal of the game to once again bring the two teams even nearing the close of the quarter.
However, the Mocs would go on to score three goals in the remaining three minutes of the quarter, giving them a lead that they wouldn't relinquish as part of a 6-goal scoring run at the turn of the fourth quarter.
Smith scored three times, as Lynch and Tare each found the back of the net again to put the team ahead 20-15 in the earlygoings of the fourth quarter.
Katie Yeagle scored a free-position goal to put the Mocs up by 6, giving Florida Southern enough insurance to outlast the Spartans in the final frame.
Daleo and Griffin each scored once more, and Werker made two saves for the Moccasins in the cage to hang on for a 23-19 victory at Berend Field.
The Moccasins' offensive prowess was highlighted by a fantastic shooting performance. The team shot 65.7-percent in the win, and now lead the nation in shot percentage, at 55.0-percent.
Maria Reeves was relentless in the draw circle, coming away with 10 draw controls on the day, and setting a new career-high.
In her 40
th collegiate game, all with Florida Southern, Smith increased her career total to 104 with a big performance on Wednesday.
The Moccasins earned their first conference win of the season and stretched their win streak to eight games as they look ahead to their next conference matchup on Saturday afternoon against the undefeated ninth-ranked Rollins College Tars, in Winter Park.
