WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - The Florida Southern College men's lacrosse team earned its first Sunshine State Conference victory of the season as the Moccasins hit the road Saturday to battle Palm Beach Atlantic. The Moccasins used a 7-1 fourth quarter to run away with a 16-11 win. Sophomore
Kristian Kent returned to the FSC lineup and led the team with four goals while adding an assist for a team-high tying five-point performance.
Florida Southern improves to 3-7 on the season including 1-2 in SSC play while Palm Beach Atlantic fell to 3-3 while moving to 0-2 in league action.
Senior
Brydon Robichaud joined Kent with five points as he tallied a pair of goals and three assists. Junior
Nolan Tighe picked up his second hat trick of the season with three goals while adding an assist to finish with four points. Freshman
Carter Vaillancourt added two goals and an assist for a three-point night while sophomore
Maddux Walton finished with a pair of goals. Three others each added one goal each.
Junior
Jacob Czyz finished the night with a 13-of-18 (.722) mark at the face off while also adding his sixth goal of the season. It also marked the third-straight game he has found the back of the net. He also scooped up a team-best eight ground balls. Junior
Luke Henricksen went 6-of-11 (.545) for the Mocs as well at the face off with two ground balls.
Graduate student
Michael Simone finished with 13 saves in goal, his ninth double-digit saves performance of the season. The win was his third of the season and 26
th of his career.
Bryce Downs and Curtis Goddard led the Sailfish effort with three goals and an assist each. Goalkeeper Brendan Pedisich made 11 saves in the loss.
The contest was relatively even for the first three quarters as FSC took the opening 15 minutes 4-3 before the Sailfish claimed the second 5-4 to enter halftime tied 8-8. PBA edged the Mocs in the third 2-1 to enter the final 15 minutes ahead 10-9.
Vaillancourt scored the opening goal of the fourth just over three minutes in as he tied the game up at 10-10. The Sailfish responded just under two minutes later to retake the lead 11-10. Henricksen won the ensuing face off for the Mocs and Walton scored just eight seconds later to tie the game up once again at 11-11 with exactly 10 minutes remaining.
Robichaud tallied the game-winning goal 3:27 later before the Mocs added three insurance goals down the stretch. Following a Tighe goal with 4:22 left in the game, the Mocs controlled the possession and added two more goals before the Sailfish saw their first possession at the 21 second mark of the quarter. Simone made five saves in the final 15 minutes of action to preserve the victory.
Florida Southern will be back in action this Wednesday, April 2 at 8 p.m. as the Moccasins travel to Rollins for another SSC contest.
