Mocs Fall in SSC Home Opener to #13 Saint Leo

LAKELAND, Fla. - The Florida Southern College men's lacrosse team faced its first Sunshine State Conference home test of the season as 13^th-ranked Saint Leo University visited Berend Field. The Lions jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first and did not look back as Saint Leo took home the 10-5 victory. Graduate student Michael Simone made 12 saves in net, his eighth double-digit performance of the season, to lead the Moccasin effort.
 
The loss drops Florida Southern's record to 2-7 on the year and 0-2 in SSC play while the Lions improved to 7-2 overall and 1-0 in league action.
 
Five different Moccasins found the back of the net in the loss including junior Jacob Czyz, senior Mason McQuiggin, senior Brydon Robichaud, senior Isaiah Thomas and sophomore Maddux Walton while Robichaud added an assist for a team-best two points. Sophomore Grant Ansted and senior Matt Flammenspeck each chipped in an assist.
 
McQuiggin and sophomore Alex Haughn led the defensive effort with two caused turnovers each while McQuiggin led all non-face off specialists in ground balls with three. Czyz went 11-of-17 at the face off with a team-best seven ground balls.
 
Florida Southern out-shot the Lions 42-37 but it was Saint Leo who had more shots on goal 22-16. FSC converted on just one of seven extra man opportunities while the Lions were 0-for-3.
 
Aidan Knoetgen led the Saint Leo offensive effort with two goals and three assists for a game-high five points. Tristan Leblanc added two goals while Thomas Nelan had a goal and two assists. Owen Wills led the defense with four caused turnovers while Jake Sudaley added three.
 
Saint Leo scored the opening four goals of the contest before the Mocs broke through with 28 seconds left in the first. Thomas streaked through the defense and sent a shot past the keeper to cut the deficit to 4-1. The Moccasins went scoreless in the second as Saint Leo tacked on three more goals for a 7-1 halftime lead.
 
Robichaud scored the lone goal of the third quarter off an assist from Ansted at the 12:26 mark and then both teams went scoreless for the next 22-plus minutes before a explosion of goals saw six shots find their targets in the final 5:58 of play. Saint Leo began the run as they scored back-to-back goals just over two minutes apart to open up a 9-2 lead with 3:37 left. McQuiggin and Czyz then scored back-to-back man-down goals at the 2:50 and 2:40 marks of the period to cut the deficit to 9-4. Saint Leo added another goal with 30 seconds left before the Mocs connected on a man-up goal as time expired. Flammenspeck found Walton in front of the goal for the quick one-timer.
 
Florida Southern will be back in action this Saturday, March 29 at noon as the Mocs travel to Palm Beach Atlantic. Read Full Article