#16 Mocs Advance to SSC Championship with Historic Win over #7 Tampa

TAMPA, Fla. – The 16^th-ranked Florida Southern men's lacrosse team earned its program-record 13^th victory Thursday night in the Sunshine State Conference Tournament semifinals as the Moccasins took down the seventh-ranked University of Tampa Spartans in a rain-soaked contest. The win gives the Mocs their second-straight trip to the SSC Championship. FSC will take on the top-seeded Tars from Rollins, who are ranked No. 3 nationally, Sunday in Winter Park.
 
The victory is just the second all-time versus the Spartans with the last win coming in 2012 in the semifinals of the Deep South Conference Tournament. The victory moves FSC's record to 13-4 on the season while the Spartans fall to 13-3.
 
The Mocs had to not only battle the Spartans but they also faced some tough weather conditions as high winds and rains came late in the third quarter and forced a suspension of play prior to the fourth quarter. FSC came out of the weather delay and out-scored the Spartans 4-2 over the final 15 minutes of action to secure the victory.
 
Senior Sean Nolan sparked the Moccasin offense as he scored four of the opening five goals for the Mocs. The Cross River, N.Y. native finished with a team-high four goals and one assist. The hat trick gave Nolan 11 for the season, setting a new single season record at FSC as he continues to add to his legacy in a Moccasin uniform.
 
Eight additional Mocs added one goal each as it was a total team effort Thursday night in Tampa. Freshman Nolan Tighe and junior Kaleb Cook each had a goal and an assist to finish tied for second on the team with two points each. The rest of the goal scorers included freshman Jacob Czyz, sophomore Matt Flammenspeck, graduate student Jay Minor, junior Jack Frazee, graduate student Andrew Medeiros and senior Lucas Sommers. Sommers also led the defensive side of the ball with a career-best four caused turnovers.
 
Czyz, who had missed the last three-plus games due to injury, returned to lead the team at the face off as he went 10-of-19 (.526) including winning a battle in the fourth and driving down to score just his second goal of season which gave the Mocs a two-goal lead with just over 11 minutes to play.
 
Junior Michael Simone earned his 11^th victory of the season as he moved to 11-2 in goal for the Mocs. The Smithtown, N.Y. native made nine saves in the victory while tying the program record for wins in a season by a goalie.
 
Both teams started out hot as the Spartans took just seven seconds to score the opening goal of the contest. The Mocs would respond just 20 seconds later as Nolan scored the first of his four goals on the night off an assist from Tighe. The game would settle down a bit until Nolan struck again at the 8:38 mark of the period to give the Mocs their first lead of the game, 2-1. The Spartans would rattle off four-straight including three in the final seven-plus minutes of the first and one in the opening 35 seconds of the second to take a 5-2 lead, their largest of the contest.
 
Nolan secured his 11^th hat trick of the season just three minutes later as he beat Spartan All-Conference goaltender Blake Ulmer to cut the deficit to two. Sommers would strike just over a minute later off a feed from sophomore Brydon Robichaud to trim the lead to just one. It would be Nolan once again just 39 ticks of the clock later as he beat Ulmer low to score his fourth goal of the contest and tie the game at 5-5.
 
Both teams battled the final nine minutes of the first half with the Spartans adding one more goal with just over four minutes remaining to take a 6-5 lead into the halftime break.
 
The Spartans once again opened a quarter with a quick goal as Tampa connected on a tally just 47 seconds into the second half to take a two-goal advantage. It would once again turn into a defensive battle for the next several minutes until the Mocs finally broke through at the 5:32 mark as Flammenspeck scored from the left side to cut the deficit to just one. The Spartans were quick to respond as they answered the goal just 45 seconds later to re-take a two goal advantage. The goal fever caught on as Medeiros and Tighe scored back-to-back goals in just over a minute to tie the game at 8-8 with 2:23 left in the third.
 
Rain and wind moved into the Tampa area in the late seconds of the third period and play was suspended for less than an hour as the teams waited for the weather to cooperate. The teams returned to the field for the fourth as rain continued to pour down.
 
Both teams navigated the soaked field for the opening three minutes of the period before Frazee gave the Mocs their first lead since the opening period as he raced down the middle of the field on a clear and fired one past the keepr with 11:31 left in the contest. Czyz would take the next face off and sprint down the field before launching a shot past Tampa's goalie to give the Mocs a 10-8 lead with just nine seconds later as the FSC faithful erupted in the stands. The Spartans quickly rebounded with a goal just 33 seconds later to cut the lead to one at 10-9. Just under two minutes later the hosts would strike again to tie the game at 10-10 but the Mocs would not be deterred.
 
As both teams looked for the game-winner down the stretch it was junior transfer from Lakeland, Fla. Kaleb Cook who tallied the go-ahead goal as he beat the Tampa keeper from distance to give the Moccasins an 11-10 advantage. Minor would add an insurance goal just under three minutes later as the Mocs led by two with 3:57 left in the contest. Simone made three crucial saves in the final three minute to preserve the historic victory for the Mocs sending FSC to its second-straight SSC Championship game.
 
The Mocs will face a rematch of the 2022 SSC Tournament semifinals where FSC defeated Rollins 12-11 in overtime on the road on a last second goal from Sean Nolan which beat an expiring shot clock sending the Mocs to their first SSC Championship game in program history. The Mocs fell to Rollins 14-6 during the 2023 regular season but they were without their First Team All-SSC face off specialist Jacob Czyz who was out due to injury.
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