LAKELAND, Fla. - The No. 6 Florida Southern College women's lacrosse team upended No. 24 Colorado Mesa University 24-12 at Berend Field in the Moccasins' final non-conference matchup of the season.
The Mocs (9-1) cruised past the visiting Mavericks (3-4) after jumping out to an 8-1 lead in the first quarter as senior
Jackie Stoller and sophomore
Giana Murphy each posted three points in the initial frame.
Stoller would go on to record a career-high eight points with four goals and four assists on the afternoon.
Sophomore
Rylie Rittberg earned her seventh win of the year, allowing just three goals in the entire second half to ensure a dominant win.
Florida Southern took an early lead by notching four goals in the first five minutes of the contest, with two of them coming on free-position shots. Over the course of the game, the Mocs wound up scoring eight of their goals on just 10 total free-position attempts.
Stoller scored the game's first goal in the opening minute before
Madison Tare and
Ellie Griffin each scored assisted goals. Stoller's 25
th goal of the year with just under ten minutes to play made it 4-0.
With six and a half minutes to play, Colorado Mesa answered with a tally to stop the bleeding, but freshman
Casey Falduto reclaimed the four-goal lead on a free position shot just a moment later.
Hailey Daleo got on the score sheet with her 26
th goal of the year with just over three minutes to play, and then
Giana Murphy notched back-to-back goals to end the quarter up 8-1.
The second period saw the Mavericks make a comeback bid, outscoring the Moccasins 6-5 in the frame. The teams exchanged goals in the opening minute of the quarter, with Griffin scoring her second of the day to keep the Mocs ahead by seven, the score 9-2.
Florida Southern triggered the running clock momentarily after
Abby McFerren, Daleo, and Murphy scored in succession to put the team up 12-2 with just under nine minutes to play in the second quarter, but the Mavs responded nicely, scoring five of the last six goals in the half.
Stoller was the lone goal-scorer in the final eight minutes of the quarter for the Moccasins, as they took a 13-7 lead into the half.
Florida Southern quickly regained momentum coming out of the break, with
Lizzy Lynch and Stoller scoring two quick goals to put the team up 15-7. While the Mavs got one back to make things interesting, the Moccasins poured on the goals in the remainder of the third quarter to put the game away early.
Tare scored consecutive goals before Murphy's fourth of the game again put Florida Southern up by 10, leading 18-8. McFerren tacked on another before the half and junior
Emma Dudley scored to make it 20-8 heading into the final quarter of play.
The squads exchanged goals to open the fourth quarter, with Lynch scoring again. Junior
Hannah Hale picked up her first goal of the season to put Florida Southern up 22-10 on a crafty free-position shot and senior
Olivia Manghisi notched her fifth of the year to continue the onslaught.
With the clock running, the Mavericks were able to tack on a couple more goals to cut the deficit, but with the game well in hand, the Mocs were able to coast to victory.
Freshman
Hailey O'Donoghue put the exclamation point on the massive win with a buzzer-beating goal at the end of regulation, the first of her young career.
The Moccasins have now wrapped up their intense non-conference portion of the schedule, and now turn their attention to Sunshine State Conference play. They'll begin their path to a seventh regular-season title next Saturday at 1 p.m. when they take on No. 13 Lynn University, at home.
