LAKELAND, Fla. – No. 5 Florida Southern women's lacrosse used a strong start to get ahead of No. 15 Wingate at Berend Field Saturday morning. The Moccasins earned their fourth win of the season with an 18-7 decision against the Bulldogs.
Florida Southern (4-1) used 12 different goal-scorers to make up its 18 goals where graduate student
Madison Tare paced the team offensively with five goals for five points.
Abby McFerren was behind Tare with four points on two goals and two assists.
Jackie Stoller registered two goals in the win, while
Sammy Gorrasi,
Kolby Cohen,
Kelsey Bennett,
Hannah Hale,
Ellie Griffin,
Maria Reeves,
Elise Alders,
Audrey Cannelli, and
Sabrina Diaz all contributed a goal to the Mocs' winning tally.
Brayden Cannelli and
Danielle Dunn joined the points party by each adding one assist in the game as Florida Southern finished with 26 total points with eight assists on 18 goals.
Florida Southern was efficient at the draw winning 18 of the 27 with
Brayden Cannelli winning a game-high eight ahead of
Kolby Cohen's five.
Olivia Manghisi paced the team with three groundballs in which the Mocs finished with a total of 27.
Leah Knowles and Nelida Watson led the offensive for Wingate (4-2), scoring two goals for the Bulldogs. Kaleigh Wilgeroth, Danielle Scarfogliero, and Claire Fuchs each scored an additional point for Wingate.
McKenzie Gaghan started in goal for the Moccasins and earned her fourth win of the year in 45 minutes of action. The graduate student tallied three saves in the first three periods, before turning things over to
Rylie Rittberg who played the fourth quarter and had two saves in 15 minutes.
The Mocs started the game with Maria Reeves winning the draw control, but Wingate took the early lead off a Nelida Watson goal. Wingate continued to pressure Florida Southern for the first five minutes, scoring an additional goal before Florida Southern's Abby McFerren found the back of the net. The Mocs won back the momentum with a five-point streak against the Bulldogs, with Madison Tare netting three of the five goals back-to-back-to-back.
Entering into the second frame with the Mocs up 7-4, the Bulldogs managed to eke out another goal before the Mocs dominated the ball for the rest of the frame. Florida Southern went on a five-goal streak, finishing the second frame 12-5 with their lead over Wingate widening.
The Moccasins would hold the Bulldogs scoreless in the third quarter while tacking on four more goals to take a commanding 16-5 lead into the final quarter of play.
After
Elise Alders scored the fourth quarter's first goal to make it a 12-goal game, Wingate's Claire Fuchs finally cracked Florida Southern's defense for a goal to snap the scoreless streak for the Bulldogs.
Danielle Dunn would find
Sabrina Diaz who placed the ball in the back of the net to push the game back to 12 goals (18-6). The Bulldogs added another goal in the final seconds but it was too-little, too-late for Wingate as Florida Southern went on for the 18-7 decisive win.
No. 5 Florida Southern remains at home for yet another top-10 matchup when the Moccasins host the No. 8 Regis (CO) Rangers at 11 a.m. on Monday, March 4 at Berend Field. Following the game, the Mocs will hit the road for a pair of games in New York, including current ranked No. 1 Pace and No. 16 Mercy before four straight home games to close the month of March.
