#15 Mocs Drop Contest at #3 Limestone

GAFFNEY, S.C. - The 15th-ranked Florida Southern College men's lacrosse team ran into a strong third-ranked Limestone program which pulled away early and held the Mocs to just seven goals in a 19-7 victory. The 12-goal deficit is the largest for the Mocs since March 21, 2021 when FSC fell to the University of Tampa 22-7.
 
The decision drops Florida Southern's record to 1-2 on the season while the Saints improved to a perfect 3-0 on the year.
 
The Saints jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead in just over seven minutes of action. The Mocs responded with a pair of goals in the span of 30 seconds as Maddux Walton connected off an assist from Brendan Glasser before Brydon Robichaud converted an unassisted goal to cut the lead to 4-2 with just over four minutes left in the first quarter. Florida Southern had a man-up opportunity late in the opening period but it was the Saints who converted the short-handed goal to end the first 15 minutes of play up 5-2.
 
The second period went scoreless for the opening six minutes of action before Griffin Phillips, a long-stick midfielder, answered Limestone's short-handed goal with one of his own. The Saints then began a streak of four goals over the span of just under three minutes to open up a 9-3 with 4:22 left in the opening half. Neither team was able to score in the final minutes of the first half as Limestone carried a 9-3 lead into the break.
 
After a scoreless five minutes to open the second half, Limestone broke through as Zachary Taylor scored his 19^th goal in just three games this season. Kaleb Cook quickly answered the score just 27 seconds later as he scored off a Robichaud assist. The Saints then once again went on a four-goal spurt over the span of just 3:09 to open up a 14-4 lead with 5:19 left in the third. Jonas Aquilla stopped the run with a goal off another Robichaud assist and then another long-stick scored for the Mocs as John Dowling finished off an assist from Walton. The third quarter ended with the Mocs trailing 14-6.
 
The Saints scored the opening four goals of the fourth quarter including three in the span of 1:27 to take an 18-6 lead with 6:19 left in the contest. With just under four minutes to play Thomas Frank scored a man-up goal for the Mocs as Caiden Wiech provided the assist. The Saints scored the final goal of the contest with 1:25 left for a final of 19-7.
 
Robichaud led the Mocs with three points including a goal and two assists while Walton had two points on an assist and a goal. Seven others added one point to the effort.
 
Sophomore Joe Buxbaum led the defense with a pair of caused turnovers while four others each had one. Buxbaum also scooped up four ground balls. Senior Michael Simone led the team with eight ground balls as he also made a career-high 18 saves in the loss while seeing 53 minutes of action.
 
Sophomore Jacob Czyz went 11-of-24 (.458) at the face off while scooping up seven ground balls. Freshman Boston Stofa was 1-of-2 (.500) while sophomore Luke Henricksen went 0-of-2 (.000).
 
The Mocs were 23-of-24 (.958) on clears while the Saints went 26-of-28 (.929). The Saints won the turnover battle 22-16 and outshot the Mocs 56-34 including 37-21 on goal. Each team scored a man-down goal while the Mocs went 1-of-6 (.167) in man-up opportunities while the Saints went 0-of-1 (.000).
 
Florida Southern will have to wait a week to get back on the field as another road contest awaits the Mocs who travel to Flagler College on Saturday, Feb. 24 for a 7 p.m. contest.
 
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