LAKELAND, Fla. – The fourth-seeded Florida Southern College men's lacrosse team will host the fifth-seed Saint Leo University in the opening round of the 2024 Sunshine State Conference Championship this Saturday, April 20 at noon. 2024 marks the third-straight trip to the postseason for the Moccasins and sixth appearance overall since the SSC began sponsoring men's lacrosse in 2014.
Location: Lakeland, Fla.
Facility: Berend Field
Opening Faceoff: 12:00 p.m.
Coverage: Live Stats –
www.fscmocs.com/stats; Video –
www.fscmocs.com/live
4th Seed – The Moccasins – Roster | Schedule | Coaches | Statistics
Florida Southern wrapped up the 2024 regular season with a 9-6 overall record including a 3-4 mark in SSC play. The Moccasins earned wins over four top-20 ranked teams including No. 3 Wingate, No. 17 Colorado Mesa, No. 20 Lander and No. 20 Saint Leo. FSC is also coming off its largest victory of the season, a 19-4 defeat of Lynn in the regular season finale. The 19 goals tied a season-high for the Mocs while the 15-goal differential set a new season mark.
The Mocs are 3-5 all-time in SSC postseason play while 2024 marks the first year of the expanded six-team playoff. FSC has hosted one SSC Tournament contest at home and that came during the very first season of SSC play as the Mocs hosted Saint Leo in 2014 at Bryant Stadium, taking a 18-7 victory. The Mocs have advanced to three SSC Championship games including the two most recent in 2022 and 2023.
Offensively, the Mocs have been paced by junior
Brydon Robichaud who leads the team with 46 points including the second-most goals, 25, and second-most assists, 21. Senior
Brendan Glasser is the top goal-scorer in 2024 with 27 tallies while classmate
Kaleb Cook has been the assists leader with 23.
FSC boasts five goal-scorers with 20-or-more tallies this season and eight members of the team with 20-or-more points.
In conference play, its been sophomore
Nolan Tighe leading the way in goals with 17 through seven games while Glasser sits in second with 12. Cook has handed out 14 of his 23 assists during league action while Robichaud has chipped in 10.
Defensively, graduate student
Nick Shannon and sophomore
Joe Buxbaum have taken the lead. Shannon has a team-best 33 caused turnovers and recently surpassed the career record at Florida Southern. Buxbaum has had a strong second season with 26 caused turnovers to his credit. The pair have combined for 89 ground balls including 54 for Shannon and 35 for Buxbaum.
Leading the way in the middle for the LSMs are graduate student
Griffin Phillips and freshmen
Will Rockwell and
Charlie Fisher while senior
Jack Frazee and junior
Blake Terry have been a strong force at the SSDM position.
In goal, senior
Michael Simone has played 871 of the 893 minutes in cage this season for the Mocs. He has compiled a 9-6 record with an 11.64 goals against average. He has made 183 saves this season with a .520 save percentage. For his career, he has seen over 1800 minutes in goal for FSC with 356 saves and a career 10.90 goals against average.
At the face off, its sophomore
Jacob Czyz leading the way as he has gone 242-of-375 (.645) at the 'X' including 127-of-174 (.730) in league action. He currently ranks third in the SSC in overall face off percentage but leads when looking at conference-games only. He also ranks second in the league in ground balls per game at 9.13.
5th Seed – The Lions – Roster | Schedule | Coaches | Statistics
Saint Leo finished the 2024 regular season with a 9-5 overall record including 3-4 in SSC play. The Lions earned a pair of top-20 victories this season including a win over No. 5 Rollins in the regular season finale and a victory over No. 19 Montevallo in non-conference action.
The Lions have appeared in five SSC Tournaments including making it to the SSC Championship game twice including in 2018 and 2019. Saint Leo is 2-5 all-time in SSC postseason action with their most recent appearance coming last season as the No. 4 seed.
SLU is paced offensively by sophomore Greg Palmer who leads the team in goals, 40, assists, 27, and points, 67. Senior Guy Bistrow ranks second on the squad in scoring with 39 goals while sophomore Aidan Knoetgen ranks second in assists with 20. Overall, the Lions have three goal scorers with 20-or-more goals and six with 20-or-more points.
Defensively, sophomore Jimmy McGonigle, sophomore Owen Wills and senior Leo Dunlap all have double-digit caused turnovers. McGonigle leads the way with 15 while Wills has 14 and Dunlap has 12.
In goal, senior Chase Strait has seen 808 of the 838 minutes this season for the Lions. He has a 9-5 record in the cage this season with a 11.73 goals against average. He has made 160 saves with a .503 save percentage.
At the face off, Saint Leo sends senior Michael Flores to the middle where he has won 220-of-319 (.690) this season to lead the SSC. He has 155 ground balls and also leads the conference in ground balls per game at 11.07.
Head-to-Head
The Mocs and Lions have met 20 times in men's lacrosse with FSC taking 13 wins compared to SLU's seven. FSC has won three-straight in the series dating back to 2022 which snapped a three-game win streak in the series by the Lions that spanned from 2018 to 2021. The Mocs and Lions have met just once in SSC Tournament play and that came in the very first SSC Tournament in 2014 with the Mocs winning 18-7. The two teams met four times in the Deep South Conference Tournament with each team winning twice.
Last Meeting
Florida Southern and Saint Leo met in Saint Leo on April 3 with the Mocs taking a 18-13 victory. The two teams endured a 30-minute weather delay before the game started and then battled intermittent showers throughout the evening contest but it was a dominant second half that gave the Moccasins the victory.
A quartet of goal scorers starred for the Mocs as they al finished with four goals in the contest. Junior
Brydon Robichaud, graduate student
Thomas Frank, sophomore
Nolan Tighe and senior
Kaleb Cook all tallied four goals in the victory with Robichaud adding two assists and Cook and Frank each having one. John Raucci led Saint Leo with five goals while Greg Palmer and Matthew Cleary each had three.
2024 SSC Tournament
Following the program's seventh SSC regular-season title, Tampa captures the No. 1 seed in the postseason tournament. The Spartans went 7-0 in league play and currently hold the No. 3 ranking in the USILA national poll. Rollins is awarded the No. 2 seed after a 5-2 conference mark. The Spartans and Tars will receive a first-round bye as the 2024 tournament has been expanded to six teams.
Florida Southern grabs the No. 4 seed and will host No. 5 Saint Leo on Saturday. Both squads went 3-4 in SSC play, but FSC took the head-to-head matchup in early April. Florida Tech earns the No. 3 seed and welcomes in No. 6 Lynn. Defeating the Panthers on April 13th enabled the Fighting Knights to secure a tiebreaker that secured their spot in this year's tournament.
Since men's lacrosse became a league sport in 2014, an SSC team has made the NCAA tournament every season. Last year, the Tars earned a first-round bye in the NCAA Division II national tournament, while the Spartans also earned a tournament bid. The eventual national champion, Lenoir-Rhyne, knocked both Rollins and Tampa out of the national tournament. In 2022, Tampa won the first men's lacrosse national title for the Sunshine State Conference. Before Tampa's run, Saint Leo's 2018 squad was the national runner-up.
