#4 Florida Southern Pulls Away from #12 Lynn for Semifinal Win, Advances to SSC Championship Game

LAKELAND, Fla. – No. 4 Florida Southern used a strong fourth quarter to pull away from the 12^th-ranked Lynn Fighting Knights in the Sunshine State Conference semifinals hosted Thursday at Berend Field. The Moccasins defeated the Fighting Knights 18-11 to advance to the program's seventh consecutive championship game.
 
The top-seeded Mocs (15-3) will host the second-seeded Tampa Spartans (14-3) on Sunday, April 28 at noon.
 
Madison Tare and Jackie Stoller battled for the top spot among the team as Tare edged Stoller in points, eight to seven, but it was Stoller who had the edge in scoring tallying six in the game. Tare's eight points are tied for second in SSC tournament history while Stoller's six goals are tied for third-most for individual goals. Stoller's seven points sit tied fourth in tournament history.
 
Hannah Hale registered a hattrick and finished with four points while Sammy Gorrasi and Jenna Vetter each tallied three points. Gorrasi had one goal and two assists while Vetter had two goals and one assist.
 
Charlie Laye and Kelsey Bennett closed the book on points for the Moccasins as Laye, who caused a turnover and sprinted the full length of the field, dished out one assist for her first point of the season. Bennett found the back of the net in the Mocs' 18-goal day.
 
McKenzie Gaghan earned her 14^th win of the season in goal making seven stops while facing 23 shots. Defensively, Caitlin Murphy and Gorrasi tied for the team lead in two caused turnovers as Florida Southern tallied 11 total.
 
Brayden Cannelli and Lauryn Rygiel were a force on the circle winning 12 combined draw controls, split with B. Cannelli tallying seven and Rygiel five. Maria Reeves and Audrey Cannelli each won three draw controls, with Kolby Cohen scooping up the last one for the Mocs' 19 in the game.
 
Lynn (13-5) concluded its first trip to the SSC postseason with a 1-1 record behind Kristyn Johnson's semifinal performance of five goals. She sat ahead of Mallory Jarka in points by one as Jarka tallied four points on three assists and one goal. Callista Elica suffered the loss to fall to 7-4 on the year after making eight stops on 29 shots.
 
Florida Southern opened the game with a 6-2 first frame before Lynn clawed back into it with a 4-1 second quarter for a 7-6 halftime score. The Moccasins edged the Fighting Knights 5-4 in the third for a two-goal lead going into the final quarter of the semifinal matchup. The Mocs lit up the net with six goals in the final quarter to take the final frame 6-1 and the game, 18-11.
 
Lynn scored the game-opening two goals before Florida Southern ripped off six straight. Hannah Hale scored the Mocs' first goal followed by a pair from Madison Tare. Jackie Stoller sandwiched Jenna Vetter's goal with a pair for the six in the frame (6-2).
 
The Fighting Knight's scored the second quarter's first goal at 10:40. Nearly six minutes later, Hale found the back of the net for what would be the only goal of the frame for the Mocs. Lynn tallied three more goals to cut it to 7-6 at the break.
 
Halftime adjustments stunned the Mocs as the Fighting Knights rallied and pushed ahead 9-7 with three straight goals. Madison Tare stopped the run with an unassisted goal before Kelsey Bennett scored at the 10:49 mark to tie it up at nine. Lynn's Kristyn Johnson, who was battling Jackie Stoller all game for the league's leading scorer title, scored to make it 10-9 but three minutes later Stoller answered off a dish from Vetter. Tare and Stoller each scored once more before the end of the quarter for a 12-10 lead.
 
Lynn cut the two-goal deficit to one with a goal at 12:54, but Florida Southern blew the doors off with six unanswered goals to end the game (18-11). Hale, Sammy Gorrasi, Tare, Vetter, and Stoller (2) scored in the closing 11 minutes, as Florida Southern took the semifinal game, advancing to the SSC Championship game.
 
The 2024 Sunshine State Conference Championship game will feature the top-seeded Mocs vs the second-seeded Spartans at noon on Sunday, April 28^th at Berend Field. The two foes have met in the final of the past four tournaments with each team winning the SSC tournament title. The matchup will be the second of the season for the top-10 teams as Florida Southern, ranked no. 7 at the time, defeated then-no. 5 Tampa 11-10 in regulation at Berend Field, a natural grass field at the Barnett Athletic Complex on Florida Southern's campus.
  Read Full Article