#4 Mocs Out Pace the #2 Setters Sunday Afternoon

LAKELAND Fla.- The No. 4 Florida Southern College women's lacrosse team faced a top five match up at Berend Field Sunday afternoon with a 20-11 win over the No. 2 Pace Setters. The highly anticipated game saw an offensive onslaught by the Moccasins with a 10-goal first quarter to get ahead early on the Setters.
 
 
Florida Southern moves to 9-0 on the season as Giana Murphy and Abby McFerren leading the way for the Moccasins with eight and seven points, respectively. Both Murphy and McFerren had a total of 10 goals between the two, five a piece, while Murphy contributed three assists for a game-high eight points one ahead of McFerren who had two assists for a total of seven points.
 
 
The highlight of the day was the Moccasins draw circle where Maria Reeves won 18 draws, a career-high, which tied the Sunshine State Conference and FSC program record for draw controls in a single game by an individual. Reeves now stands atop the league and Florida Southern record book alongside Moccasin great, Dani Bursinger.
 
 
Six other Mocs contributed goals in the dominating game Sunday with Hannah Hale joining McFerren and Murphy with at least hat trick. Grace Curtin and Hannah Guerin each had two goals while Kolby Cohen, Jenna Vetter, and Sam Wehr all had one.
 
 
In goal, Rylie Rittberg earned her ninth win of the season after playing the full 60 minutes in goal with five saves. She added one caused turnover and three groundballs on the day.
 
 
No. 2 Pace drops its first game of the year, falling to 5-1. Annie Sheehan led the team with six points with one goal and five assists while Mackenzie Carita had a team-high four goals, one ahead of Maddie Schubert's three.
 
 
Samantha Tanguay suffered her first loss of the season after playing the opening 13:36 allowing 10 goals and registering just one save while Elsa Branco came in for the final 46:24 and made seven saves with 10 goals allowed.
 
 
In the first quarter, Abby McFerren kicked things off with a hat trick within the first 2 minutes of play, giving the Moccasins an early 3-0 lead. Right behind McFerren was Grace Curtain, Hannah Hale, Giana Murphy (2), and Jenna Vetter, all adding to the lead, making it 8-0 before Pace could get on the board. The Setters finally broke through on a free-position goal at 5:46, 8-1. Hannah Guerin immediately responded with a free-position goal of her own, bringing the Moccasins back to their 8-goal lead with a score of 9-1. With under 90-seconds left in the quarter, Hannah Hale scored, extending the lead to 10-1 going into the second. The Moccasins' 10 goals in the first quarter were the second most goals in a single quarter in team history, one shy of the program record.
 
 
In the second quarter, the Moccasins kept the momentum with Giana Murphy scoring within the first minute of play, 11-1 FSC. The Setters were able to get another goal on the board, to which Grace Curtain responded with a goal, assisted by Abby McFerren. Sam Wehr and Hannah Guerin answered another Setters goal to close the half with Florida Southern leading 14-3.
 
 
A big third quarter from Pace saw the Setters score five unanswered goals to cut the deficit to 14-9 heading to the final quarter of play.
 
 
In the fourth quarter, the Setters cut the Moccasins' lead to just five goals with a goal two minutes into play before Florida Southern rattled off three straight coming from Hale, Murphy, and Kolby Cohen, 17-9 FSC. A pair of Pace goals brought it back to a six-goal game but McFerren (2) and Murphy continued to pour it on and extend Florida Southern's win streak to nine games and bring the game to its final, 20-11.  
 
 
The No. 4 Moccasins will be home again on Wednesday, March 19 at 7:00 pm where they'll take on #23 Mercy at Berend Field.
 
  Read Full Article