Mocs Drop Conference Opener on the Road

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - The Florida Southern College men's lacrosse team dropped its Sunshine State Conference opener Saturday afternoon on the road at Embry-Riddle. The Moccasins and Eagles battled back-and-forth for all 60 minutes but it was the hosts who came away with the 10-9 victory. The game-winning goal which broke a 9-all tie was scored by ERAU with 1:16 left in the contest. FSC was able to get off three shots over the final minute of play but two were saved and the third missed the mark giving the Eagles the victory.
 
The loss drops FSC's record to 1-6 on the season while the Mocs open SSC play 0-1. The Eagles improved to 3-3 on the year including 1-0 in league play.
 
Junior Jacob Czyz continued to shine at the face off for the Mocs as he went 17-of-22 (.773) with a game-high 10 ground balls. Senior Matt Flammenspeck and sophomore Maddux Walton led the offense for FSC with two goals and an assist each. Sophomore Grant Ansted was the only other multiple-point scorer as he finished with a goal and an assist in the loss.
 
Defensively, sophomores Charlie Fisher and Alex Haughn each finished with two caused turnovers. Graduate student Michael Simone made 15 saves in the loss while his counterpart, Carter Groezinger of ERAU, stopped 16 FSC shots.
 
The Moccasins started the game off strong, outscoring the Eagles 3-1 over the opening 15 minutes of action. Junior Nolan Tighe opened the scoring with a man-up goal at the 6:08 mark of the first off an assist from Flammenspeck. The Eagles answered just over a minute later but the Mocs tacked on back-to-back goals just 44 seconds apart to go up 3-1. Flammenspeck tallied the first score off an assist from Walton while Walton found the scoreboard 44 seconds later off an assist from senior Brydon Robichaud.
 
The second quarter was the exact opposite of the first as the Eagles outscored the Mocs 3-1. ERAU opened the period with three unanswered goals before Walton broke through with 2:01 left for his second tally of the contest off an assist from freshman Ian Evans. Neither team scored down the stretch as the game entered halftime tied 4-4.
 
The third saw the Eagles jump out to an 8-4 lead in a stretch just under five minutes where the hosts scored four-straight with just over 19 minutes left in the entire contest. The Mocs responded with three-straight off their own over a span of just 3:26 as Ansted, Flammenspeck and freshman Carter Vaillancourt all found the target.
 
With 15 minutes left, the Mocs found themselves trailing 8-7. The Eagles struck first in the period at the 10:33 mark to push the advantage to two. The score remained 9-7 until freshman Carson Corona scored a long-pole goal with 3:51 left. Czyz won the ensuing faceoff and after setting up a play junior Anthony Guglielmo found the equalizer just 30 seconds later at 3:21. Czyz again won the faceoff but ERAU's keeper was able to make a save setting up the game-winning goal for the Eagles. ERAU took one shot off mark before scoring the winner at the 1:16 mark.
 
FSC tallied three shots over the final 32 seconds off play but none were able to best the Eagle keeper which gave ERAU the 10-9 victory.
 
The Moccasins will be back in action Saturday, March 15 at 7 p.m. as they host nationally-ranked Colorado Mesa. The game will also celebrate Senior Night for the Mocs and mark the final non-conference opponent of the season.  
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