LAKELAND, Fla. – The No. 2 Florida Southern College women's lacrosse team downed Notre Dame College by a final score of 20-7 on Thursday afternoon at Berend Field.
The Moccasins (6-0) jumped out to a 10-goal lead in the opening quarter to take control of the game before the Falcons (0-3) could muster any offense.
Rylie Rittberg started in net and effectively kept the visitors at bay to earn her fourth win of the season.
Graduate student
Gina Verrone was sharp again defensively, as she recorded four caused turnovers to go along with four ground balls.
Senior
Sammy Gorrasi led the Moccasins with three tallies on the day as part of the 20-goal offensive onslaught.
Florida Southern dominated the game from the opening whistle, scoring the first ten goals to start a running clock early in the contest.
Ellie Griffin started the scoring just over a minute into the matchup, as she finished a feed from
Jackie Stoller to put the Mocs ahead 1-0. Griffin scored her second of the game minutes later as part of the opening scoring run.
Madison Tare scored her tenth goal of the season after the Mocs won the ensuing draw, hitting the back of the net at home for the first time this year. Junior
Abby McFerren wound up scoring twice in the first quarter while
Olivia Manghisi,
Emma Dudley, and
Hailey Daleo each tallied to put the Mocs up 10-0.
Gorrasi and Stoller each tacked on goals in the opening frame as well.
The Falcons showed resilience in the second quarter, scoring three consecutive goals to briefly trim the deficit, making it a 10-3 game early in the frame.
Senior
Lizzy Lynch and sophomore
Giana Murphy scored in succession to quickly boost the Moccasin lead before Tare notched her second of the game to put the Mocs up by 10 once again.
Gorrasi completed her first-half hat trick in the final minutes of the second quarter as the Mocs took a 15-4 lead into the locker room. Freshman
Danielle Dunn recorded her first career assist on Gorrasi's third goal.
The teams traded goals to open the second half, with Manghisi hitting the back of the net for Florida Southern. With the Mocs up 16-5, sophomore
Chloe Webber scored her first career goal after transferring to Florida Southern from St. Bonaventure University.
Dunn followed suit moments later to record her first career goal and give the Mocs a 18-5 lead heading into the final frame.
Dudley scored again in the fourth quarter while Daleo tacked on another with the Moccasins coasting to victory over the course of the second half, eventually winning 20-7. Senior
Sydney O'Neill came on to play the final thirty minutes and made one stop in the cage.
The Moccasins have now won six straight games to open up the 2023 season and will face a slew of ranked opponents over the course of the rest of the month in Lakeland.
The next game on the docket will be Sunday when the team welcomes in No. 6 Pace University for a 1 p.m. start. The Setters are 2-0 on the young season after defeating previously No. 1 East Stroudsburg University on Saturday afternoon, 16-6.
