FSC Men: #13 Florida Southern Uses Strong Second Half to Push Past Frostburg State
LAKELAND, Fla. – The 13th-ranked Florida Southern men’s lacrosse team used consistent pressure and a dominating performance at the ‘X’ to slowly pull away from the visiting Frostburg State University Bobcats, 16-10 at Berend Field Tuesday night. Senior Kevin Horwitz was nearly unstoppable at the face as he won 22 of his 27 attempts for a .815 face off percentage. A trio of Moccasins turned in hat tricks on the night as well including juniors Jeff Atlas and Sean Nolan and freshman Matt Flammenspeck, the reigning Sunshine State Conference Offensive Player of the Week.
The victory pushes the Mocs’ record to 7-3 on the year and extends their win streak to a season-long three games. The Bobcats fell to 3-3 overall.
Atlas paced the Moccasin offensive effort with three goals and three assists for a team-high six point effort. He tallied eight shots on the night with six finding the frame. He also caused a turnover and picked up a ground ball. Nolan pitched in three goals and two assists for a five point night. He finished with seven shots including five on goal. He earned a pair of ground balls as well. Flammenspeck kept his recent hot streak alive with three goals off of eight shots including six on frame. He added one ground ball as well.
Three other Mocs chipped in two goals each while long-stick midfielder Griffin Phillips tallied the only other goal for the Mocs and it came in the opening 14 seconds of play as he converted the opening face off into a goal.
Horwitz, the reigning SSC Specialist of the Week, was a force in the middle with his 22 face off victories including losing just one in the second half and going a perfect 6-for-6 in the fourth quarter. The Parkland, Fla. native also picked up a game-high 13 ground balls in the victory.
Junior Maxwell Freestone, who earned SSC Defensive Player of the Week honors as well as USILA DII Team of the Week for his performance last week, stopped a season-high 17 shots in 60 minutes of action. The victory improves his record to 5-2 in goal this season for the Mocs.
Following a back-and-forth first quarter the Mocs held a slight 5-3 lead. Frostburg State scored the opening four goals of the second quarter to take a 7-5 lead with 6:11 left in the half. Goals by Flammenspeck and junior Jay Minor just 21 seconds apart tied the game at seven late in the second quarter. The Bobcats were able to get a late goal with just 15 seconds left in the half to enter the break up 8-7.
The Bobcats opened the scoring in the second half to go up 9-7 but that would be where their momentum would come to a halt as the Mocs would out-score FSU 9-1 over the remaining 27-plus minutes of action. FSC scored four-straight goals to close out the third quarter and then after an early tally by FSU just 15 seconds into the fourth, the Mocs again went on a run to close the game, 5-0.
FSC out-shot Frostburg State 51-48 including a 35-27 edge in shots on goal. The Bobcats won the turnover battle 18-14 but it was the Mocs who dominated in ground balls 42-29.
The Mocs will return to action Saturday, April 2 at 1 p.m. as they host Embry-Riddle in the final game of a six-game home streak for the Mocs. The game will also mark the second SSC contest of the season for FSC.
