#4 Mocs Seek Program's 11th SSC Title, Face #3 Spartans Sunday

LAKELAND, Fla. – The No. 4 Florida Southern Moccasins are set to compete for the program's 11th overall Sunshine State Conference title Sunday afternoon in Tampa against the No. 3 Tampa Spartans at 1:00 p.m. at Naimoli Stadium. 

Location: Tampa, Fla.
Stadium: Naimoli Stadium
Opening Faceoff: 1:00 p.m.
Coverage: Live Stats – www.fscmocs.com/stats; Video – www.fscmocs.com/live
 
2nd seed – The Moccasins 16-2 – Roster | Schedule | Coaches | Statistics
Florida Southern topped Rollins in the semifinal Thursday to move to 16-2 overall. The Moccasins earned the 15-13 win, matching the margin of victory in the regular season meeting between the two teams (2), after fending off the Tars late in the fourth quarter.
 
The Mocs held a 15-11 lead with 3:20 to play as the Tars scored two goals in the final 25-seconds to get within two. Florida Southern's Gina Verrone won the draw control after Rollins' 13^th goal and was able to see the time run out in favor of Florida Southern.
 
Jackie Stoller and Madison Tare tied for a game-high six points in the game. Stoller had a hattrick of her own in both goals and assists while Tare tallied a double-hattrick with six goals in the game to pace the Mocs offensively.
 
Sydney O'Neill, who moved to 6-1 on the year after the win, made nine saves in goal for Florida Southern.
 
Stoller now sits just eight points shy of 100 career points at Florida Southern, and inching towards a program record for points in a season where she leads the team in goals scored (57) and assists (35). Madison Tare, who has played three less games than the rest of the team, is second in total points (62) and is third in goals scored (49), just behind Hailey Daleo's second place 51 goals.
 
O'Neill and Rylie Rittberg have split time in goal where the duo each have just one loss, Rittberg standing at 8-1 this season. Rittberg has a team-best 56 saves in 549 minutes while O'Neill has 47 in 402 minutes played.
 
1st seed – The Spartans 16-2 – Roster | Schedule | Coaches | Statistics
Tampa moved to 16-2 on the year after a 12-10 win over Embry-Riddle Thursday. The Spartans rallied from a first quarter deficit to take a 7-4 lead at halftime.
 
The Spartans held a 10-8 lead heading to the fourth quarter. Julia Kolderman and Lizzie Pierpont each tallied goals in the fourth to push the Spartan lead to 12-8 before back-to-back goals by the Eagles closed the gap to two, with under two minutes to play. The Spartans held on for the win to advance to the program's third SSC title game.
 
Sarah Hinkle leads Tampa in points (72) and goals (63) where Olivia Mott is the top passer registering 30 assists on the season, 15 more than the next closest player.
 
Alex Walling, the presumed starter for Sunday's championship, is 15-2 on the season with 949:18 minutes of action played where she has 113 saves.
 
Head-to-Head – FSC Leads 11-3
Florida Southern holds a head-to-head all-time series record of 11-3 over Tampa including the 2022 SSC Championship game hosted at Naimoli Stadium, the Mocs victorious 20-10.
 
In the last meeting earlier this season, the Spartans earned a win in Tampa 15-14 on April 5. Tampa jumped out to a 7-4 lead after the first quarter and followed that up with a halftime edge of 10-8. The Mocs used a 4-2 third quarter to tie things up heading to the final quarter of play where the Spartans used a 3-2 advantage to take the game 15-14.
 
Madison Tare paced the Mocs with a game-high eight points on six goals and two assists while Jackie Stoller tied three Spartans with four points on the day. Stoller finished with three goals and an assist while Tampa's Sarah Hinkle led the team with four goals. Julia Kolderman and Gia Colombo each had four points on three goals and one assist.
 
Alex Walling and Sydney O'Neill were the goalies of record in the first meeting where Walling made seven saves in the full 60 minutes as O'Neill played the final 52:09 and tallied a career-high 12 saves in the loss.
 
Last Time Met in SSC Championship
In the last meeting in the title game between the two top-4 programs, Florida Southern defeated Tampa 20-10 at Naimoli Family Athletic Complex.
 
The Mocs dominated quickly with a 4-1 first quarter before using a 6-3 second for a 10-4 halftime lead. Florida Southern outlasted Tampa's run in the third with a 7-5 period for a 17-9 lead. The Mocs tacked on three more compared to the Spartans one for the 20-10 final.
 
Hailey Daleo led all scorers with five goals while she tied with Lizzy Lynch for the game's lead in points at five, Lynch scoring twice and dishing out four assists. Madison Tare had four assists in the game to tie Brenna Smith at four points. Abby McFerren and Sammy Gorrasi contributed three points for the Mocs in the win.
 
Tampa's Julia Kolderman paced the team with four goals while six others scored one goal in the loss.
 
Patricia Werker earned the win for Florida Southern having played the full 60 minutes making eight stops. Alex Walling suffered the loss, making just two saves in 32:04 of action.
 
2023 SSC Tournament
Tampa and Florida Southern advanced to the 2023 Championship after knocking off Embry-Riddle and Rollins in the SSC semifinals on Thursday, April 27.
 
The Spartans hosted the Eagles and advanced to the title game after a 12-10 win, in which Tampa had to overcome a late start. The Moccasins advanced after defeating the Tars 15-13 at home.
 
This is the third straight meeting in the title game for the two programs with Tampa winning the 2019 meeting and Florida Southern the 2022. It's the Mocs' seventh straight appearance in the tournament championship while it's the Spartans third overall appearance.