#18 Mocs Drop Tough Contest with #12 Saints

LAKELAND, Fla. – The 18^th-ranked Florida Southern men's lacrosse team held a slight edge at halftime Saturday afternoon at home against 12^th-ranked Limestone, but a strong fourth quarter by the visitors gave the Saints a 20-15 victory.
 
The loss drops the Moccasins' record to 2-2 on the season with both losses coming against teams currently ranked inside the USILA Coaches Poll. The Saints moved to 4-1 on the year, picking up their third win over a Sunshine State Conference opponent.
 
Senior Sean Nolan once again led the Florida Southern attack as he scored his fourth-straight hat trick with three goals while also tying for the team lead in assists with three. He finished the day with a team-best six points. Sophomore Matt Flammenspeck scored a team-high four goals in the loss while causing a team-best three turnovers. Freshman Nolan Tighe and junior Brendan Glasser each tallied a pair of goals while graduate student Andrew Medeiros tied Nolan for the team lead in assists with three. Sophomore Brydon Robichaud was the only other Moc with multiple assists as he dished out a pair.
 
Freshman Jacob Czyz went 17-of-38 (.447) at the 'X' while collecting five ground balls. Nolan led the team in ground balls with six while senior Lucas Sommers and junior Jack Frazee each chipped in four. Senior Zac Fitzgerald joined Flammenspeck with multiple caused turnovers with two.
 
Graduate student Maxwell Freestone made 11 saves in the loss as he moved to 2-2 on the year in goal. He played all but 2:30 of the contest as junior Michael Simone closed out the game. Cory Lyons made the start in goal and posted a career-high 17 saves while allowing 14 goals. He moved to 4-1 on the season in the cage and was relieved by Wyatt Skinner who played the final 1:24.
 
Limestone was led by a pair of five-point performances. Zachary Terry and Caden Gulka each scored four goals and handed out one assist in the contest.
 
Limestone opened the contest with back-to-back goals in the opening minute of the game to take a quick 2-0 lead. The Mocs responded with four-straight of their own including a goal and two assists by Nolan during the stretch to give FSC a 4-2 lead with 7:43 left in the first. After a score from the Saints, the Mocs pushed their advantage to three goals with tallies late in the first and three minutes into the second. After both teams traded goals, the Saints would out-score the Mocs 4-1 over an eight minute period to tie the contest at 8-8 with 1:01 left in the half. FSC would close out the half with a spectacular finish from Nolan with just three second remaining as he was hit near the cage but managed to score the goal giving FSC a 9-8 lead at the half.
 
The Mocs continued the momentum into the second half and scored the opening two goals of the third quarter to put the lead back to three at 11-8. Three strikes from the Saints over a four minute stretch tied the contest at 11-11 with 6:11 left in the third. FSC would once again respond as Flammenspeck and Tighe scored back-to-back goals just over a minute apart to push the FSC lead to 13-11.
 
From the 3:37 mark of the third quarter until the final minute of the fourth, the Saints out-scored the Mocs 9-1 including two goals to close out the third and then a 7-1 advantage over the first 14 minutes of the fourth. The Mocs would score a late man-up goal from graduate student Jay Minor but it was too late as the Saints came away with a 20-15 victory.
 
The Mocs will be back in action a week from today, Saturday, March 4 as they host Dominican for another noon contest. Read Full Article