LAKELAND, Fla. – After an 8-8 tie heading to the final quarter of play, No. 3 Florida Southern powered by Dominican (NY) for a 13-8 final at Berend Field Tuesday afternoon.
Florida Southern held Dominican scoreless in the final frame to earn the five goal victory to improve to 4-0 overall while the Chargers fall to 1-1 on the season. Ten different players scored for the Mocs with
Abby McFerren,
Hannah Guerin, and
Hannah Hale each scoring a pair of goals in the contest.
Kolby Cohen,
Danielle Mojsej,
Jenna Vetter,
Giana Murphy,
Hanna Watson,
Kassidy Miller, and
Grace Curtin all found the back of the net.
Rylie Rittberg earned her fourth win of the season playing all 60 minutes between the pipes with three saves. Defensively,
Julia Lucas and
Brayden Cannelli paced the team with three caused turnovers while Lucas had three groundballs, one behind Rittberg.
The Moccasins edged the Chargers on the circle, winning 14-to-11 in draw controls with McFerren leading the way with three. Cohen and Vetter, along with
Casey Falduto,
Maria Reeves, and
Audrey Cannelli each notched two draw controls in the win with B. Cannelli pulling in one.
Dominican jumped on the board first as Erica Ortiz scored but it was less than a minute later that
Hannah Guerin scored a free position shot to tie the game at 1-1.
Hanna Watson found
Kolby Cohen for the go-ahead and
Giana Murphy found
Abby McFerren for a 3-1 lead, but the Chargers pushed ahead and cut it to just one goal with a free position goal from Madelyn Grella with 3:19 to play. Neither team would score in the final three minutes of the period.
The second quarter saw three total goals, two by Dominican as Murphy and Watson connected for Florida Southern's lone goal of the period. The two teams headed into the break all tied up at 4-4.
Like the start of the game, Dominican came out and scored the first of eight goals in the period, making it 5-4. The Mocs responded 36 seconds later, with Murphy scoring from a free position shot to even the score at 5-5. In a player-down situation, Watson found Hale on the doorstep for a fast break goal, putting the Mocs ahead 6-5 with 7:56 to play. The Chargers answered with two unanswered goals to take a lead of 7-6, but Hale scored her fifth goal of the season from Murphy, tying the game again at 7. Hale then assisted McFerren, who was cutting to the goal, giving the Mocs their eighth goal of the game before Dominican's Grella tied it once more with a minute to go in the quarter.
Cohen dished the eventual game-winning goal to Guerin at 14:05 to play in the fourth quarter as the Moccasins pulled ahead 9-8 to open the fourth quarter. Florida Southern would score four more goals in the final frame while holding Dominican scoreless to earn the 13-8 win. Scoring down the stretch was Vetter (unassisted), Mojsej (assisted by Guerin), Miller (unassisted), and
Grace Curtin on a give and go with Mojsej with 6:11 to play.
No. 3 Florida Southern hits the road for the first time this season with a trip to Cleveland, Tenn. to take on Lee at the Ray Conn Sports Complex Thursday, March 6 at 5 p.m. before taking a trip to Greenwood, S.C. to face (RV) Lander at 11 a.m. at Van Taylor Stadium on March 8.
