#3 Moccasins Host #4 Eagles for SSC Semifinal

LAKELAND, Fla. – No. 3 Florida Southern women's lacrosse is ready to host the 2025 Sunshine State Conference Semifinal, presented by Pollo Campero, at Berend Field Thursday evening (5 pm) against No. 4 Embry-Riddle. The Moccasins earned the No. 2 seed in the tournament and the first-round bye, where the Eagles earned the No. 3 seed after finishing the season as co-champions with the Mocs and No. 1 Spartans.
 
Records
No. 3 (2) – Florida Southern – 16-1, 6-1 SSC – SSC Regular Season Co-Champions
No. 4 (3) – Embry-Riddle – 16-2, 6-1 SSC – SSC Regular Season Co-Champions
 
How They Got Here
Florida Southern and Embry-Riddle tied for the regular season title, where the Moccasins earned the no. 2 seed after the tiebreaker of Goals Against Average. The Eagles hosted the sixth seed No. 21 Florida Tech, on April 19^th and defeated the Panthers 17-13.
 
#3 Florida Southern
The Moccasins posted a 16-1 overall record on the season, with their lone loss coming to No. 1 Tampa 12-8 on March 26. Florida Southern won its first 10 games and is entering the postseason on a six-game win streak.
 
Florida Southern has swept back-to-back weeks of Sunshine State Conference Players of the Weeks with Giana Murphy and Abby McFerren splitting the Offensive Player of the Week awards while Maria Reeves earned her fourth Defensive Player of the Week honor, and third straight, after the final regular season game against the Panthers (22-10 on April 15).
 
The Mocs average 16 goals a game, led by a trio of scorers with over 35 goals on the season. Giana Murphy leads the way with 59 ahead of Abby McFerren's 48, while Jenna Vetter stands right at 35 goals. Hannah Hale is one off of 30 goals this season (29) while three other Mocs have double-digit goals through 17 games. Hannah Guerin (17), Danielle Mojsej (14), and Hanna Watson (11) each sit above the 10-goal mark.
 
Maria Reeves has switched to beast mode on the draw circle, playing just the draw, and has posted 169 total on the season so far. Her 169 broke the single-season draw record, previously 153 set by Dani Bursinger in 2017, the individual game record up with a career-high 21, breaking the previous record of 18 set by Bursinger, and is just three draw controls away from setting the SSC single-season record of 172.
 
On the defensive end, Charlie Laye leads a contingent of players in caused turnovers with 19, followed by Kolby Cohen and Brayden Cannelli at 18, with Audrey Cannelli at 15. Isabelle Lucas and Julia Lucas are close behind with 13 and 12, respectively. Laye leads the group in groundballs with 26 while McFerren edges A. Cannelli and Rylie Rittberg for second place, 23 to 22.
 
#4 Embry-Riddle
The Eagles enter Thursday's meeting with just two losses, a 14-13 overtime loss to then-no. 10 Lynn in non-conference action and a 13-8 loss to the Moccasins on April 9. Embry-Riddle opened the season with five straight wins before the loss to the Fighting Knights and then put together another seven wins, including a 15-14 win over No. 1 Tampa on March 29. The Eagles head to Lakeland Thursday on a three-game win streak, posting wins over Florida Tech (twice) and Lynn.
 
Embry-Riddle averages 17 goals per game, where six players have over 30 goals. Eliana Enners paces the Eagles with 53 goals ahead of Samantha Reich at 44, Ava Rogala at 42, Callison Foreman at 38, Natalie Jansky at 34, and Caitlin Gavin at 32.
 
Three Eagles share a heavy dose of work on the draw with Enners leading with 79 this season, ahead of Sallie Squire (69) and Rogala (60). Kaitlyn Henry leads the defense in caused turnovers with 28, while she is third to Enners (46) and Rogala (31) in groundballs with 30.
 
Series History
Florida Southern leads the all-time record at 5-1 with three straight wins against Embry-Riddle. The lone Eagle win came during the 2022 season, 15-7, in Daytona Beach, Fla. The Mocs are 3-0 at home since 2019. In the last meeting, a 13-8 decision in favor of the Mocs, Giana Murphy went off for eight goals and one assist for eight total points. Jenna Vetter and Hannah Guerin each notched two goals for the Mocs, tying with the Eagles' leading scorers of Samantha Reich and Callison Foreman.
 
South Region Rankings
Florida Southern and Embry-Riddle are two teams represented in the first true South Region rankings on April 23. The Moccasins came out as the No. 2 team in the region while the Eagles are No. 3 in the first ranking.
 
South Region Rankings – games through April 20

1. Tampa
2. Florida Southern
3. Embry-Riddle
4. Lynn
5. Saint Leo
6. Lander
7. Flagler
8. Rollins