#18 Florida Southern Falls in Defensive Battle With #6 Rollins, 10-6

LAKELAND, Fla. - The 18^th-ranked Florida Southern College men's lacrosse team welcomed in sixth-ranked Rollins College Saturday night for a top-20 Sunshine State Conference battle. The Tars were able to use a 5-0 first quarter to pull ahead and stay ahead for a 10-6 victory. The two goalkeepers combined for 19 saves while the two teams combined for 39 turnovers.
 
The loss drops Florida Southern to 8-5 on the season including 2-3 in SSC play while the Tars improved to 9-2 while moving to 3-1 in league action.
 
Sophomore Nolan Tighe and senior Kaleb Cook each finished with three points in the loss. Tighe scored a team-best three goals while Cook handed out two assists including on two of Tighe's three goals. Junior Matt Flammenspeck became just the sixth Moccasin in program history to achieve 100 career goals as he scored two versus the Tars to move into a tie for fifth in the scoring chart with former Moccasin Jeff Atlas (2019-22) who also scored 100 career goals.
 
Senior Michael Simone made nine saves in net while allowing 10 goals in 60 minutes of action. The loss was his fifth of the season to move to 8-5 on the year.
 
Graduate student Nick Shannon led the way defensively with four caused turnovers, to move to 121 for his career. Shannon is now just two caused turnovers away from tying the career record held by Austen Lison (2016-19) who had 123 CTs during his career. Shannon also scooped up four ground balls to lead the field players.
 
Face off specialist Jacob Czyz had one of the best performances of his career winning 16-of-20 (.800) while scooping up a team-best 10 ground balls.
 
Jack Johnstone led the Rollins attack with a hat trick while Logan Myers chipped in two goals and an assist for tie for the team lead in points. Shahe Katchadurian made 10 saves in net for the Tars while allowing six goals.
 
The Tars came out swinging in the first and out-scored the Mocs 5-0 and FSC could never fully recover. The Mocs battled back over the next three quarters but could only get within two goals throughout the 45 minutes. FSC out-scored the Tars 2-1 in the second to enter halftime with a 6-2 deficit. Flammenspeck's opening goal of the second half was goal number 100 for the junior and cut the lead to just three. FSC once again out-scored the Tars 2-1 in the third to cut the lead to 7-4 with 15 minutes to play. The Mocs momentum continued as Jonas Aquilla took a rebound off a save at midfield and raced past the Tar defense to put the Mocs behind by just two with 9:16 left. The Tars outpaced the Mocs down the stretch out-scoring the hosts 3-1 over the final nine minutes for the 10-6 victory.
 
Florida Southern will now take its show on the road as the 2024 postseason picture slowly comes into view. The Mocs have just two contests remaining on the schedule including a trip to Florida Tech on Wednesday, April 10 at 7 p.m. and a home contest with Lynn on Wednesday, April 17 at 4 p.m. The top six SSC program advance to the SSC Tournament with the top two seeds receiving a bye into the semifinal round.
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