#3 Mocs Defeat #4 Eagles to Advance to Program's 9th SSC Title Game

LAKELAND, Fla. – No. 3 Florida Southern defeated No. 4 Embry-Riddle in the Sunshine State Conference Women's Lacrosse Championships, presented by Pollo Campero, 13-6 in the semifinal at Berend Field. The Moccasins posted back-to-back four-goal quarters to take a commanding lead at the half before posting five second-half goals.
 
No. 3 Florida Southern improves to 17-1 overall, while No. 4 Embry-Riddle moves to 16-3, dropping its second straight contest to the Moccasins. The second-seeded Moccasins will travel to the top-seeded No. 1 Tampa Spartans for the SSC Championship Sunday, April 27th, at noon.
 
Abby McFerren continues to drive the offense for the Mocs, where she posted a six-point game with four goals and two assists ahead of Danielle Mojsej's hattrick (3). Giana Murphy and Jenna Vetter each finished the game with a pair of goals as the Hannah duo of Hannah Guerin and Hannah Hale each tallied one goal in the win. Hanna Watson added two assists for two points while Isabelle Lucas dished out one assist for her first career point across 27 games in a Moccasin uniform.
 
Audrey Cannelli tied Maria Reeves with a game-high four draw controls while Brayden Cannelli was a machine on the back side with six caused turnovers. A. Cannelli added three caused turnovers to continue the driving force for the Mocs.  
 
Maria Reeves recorded her 173^rd draw control at the 14:31 mark in the fourth quarter, breaking the Sunshine State Conference single-season individual draw control record, surpassing Maria Palomba's (Saint Leo) mark of 172 in 2022. Reeves will look to increase her mark with the SSC Championship game Sunday, as well as the NCAA Tournament on May 8-10.
 
Chloe Webber played the full 60 minutes and made six saves in her fourth win of the season.
 
No. 4 Embry-Riddle received a pair of goals from Callison Foreman while four others tallied one goal in the game: Kenley Zeruto, Elinna Enners, Caitlin Gavin, and Lucy Pickle. Both of the Eagles' goalies appeared in the game, with Ella-Rae Cox playing the opening 38:48 and making two stops, while Aubrey Fixen played the final 21:12 with a pair of stops.
 
The first two quarters saw a ton of action with six goals in each frame combined. The Moccasins got the party started with three straight goals from Jenna Vetter and two from Abby McFerren. After the Eagles found the back of the net with 6:22 to go, Giana Murphy entered the boxscore with a goal at the 4:34 mark, 4-1 FSC. Embry-Riddle closed the quarter with the final goal at 2:44 for a 4-2 game.
 
Hanna Guerin scored the quarter's opening goal from a pass from Isabelle Lucas, before the Eagles ripped off back-to-back goals to make it 5-4 FSC with 11:52 to play. Danielle Mojsej found the back of the net with a pair of goals under the 7:44 mark, with Murphy scoring her 61^st of the season for an 8-4 lead at the break.
 
Vetter and McFerren opened the second half like they started the game with a goal before the Eagles scored with 4:25 to go in the third, 10-5 FSC. Mojsej scored her third goal of the game and 17^th of the season at the 1:11 mark as the teams cruised to the intermission with Florida Southern on top, 12-5.
 
A quiet three-goal fourth quarter saw a pair of Moccasin goals sandwich the Eagles' goal as McFerren and Hannah Hale scored in the final frame for Florida Southern. The Moccasins advanced to the SSC Championship with a 13-6 win.  
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