Simone’s 19 Saves Lift #15 Florida Southern 13-12 over #17 Colorado Mesa
LAKELAND, Fla. – The 15th-ranked Florida Southern College men’s lacrosse team pushed its win streak to five-straight as the Moccasins outlasted the visiting 17th-ranked Colorado Mesa University Mavericks, 13-12. Senior goalkeeper Michael Simone had a career-night as he set a new career-best in saves with 19 in the victory including stopping two Maverick shot attempts in the final minute of play to preserve the one-goal victory.
FSC improves to 6-2 on the season while CMU falls to 3-3.
Simone played all 60 minutes in the cage for the Mocs as he stopped 19 shots to move to 6-2 on the season. His 19 saves surpassed his previous career-high of 18 saves set earlier this season at nationally-ranked and current No. 1 Limestone. He has now had double-digit saves in all but one contest this season.
Offensively, FSC had five goal scorers with two-or-more goals with sophomore Caiden Wiech providing the game-winner with 2:14 left in the contest. Wiech finished with two goals and two assists to finish second on the team with four points. Senior Brendan Glasser led the way with a team-best five points as he scored two goals and assisted on three others, including the game-winner from Wiech. Junior Brydon Robichaud provided the lone hat trick of the night for the Mocs as he scored three goals and handed out one assist for a four-point night.
Freshman Maddux Walton and sophomore Nolan Tighe each scored twice for the home team while senior Kaleb Cook and graduate student Jonas Aquilla each scored once.
Graduate student Nick Shannon and freshman Will Rockwell led the defense with three caused turnovers each while three others each had two including Cook, Blake Terry and Griffin Phillips. Shannon scooped up five ground balls to finish tops among non-face off specialist on the team. Robichaud and Simone each finished with four while Rockwell and Zac Fitzgerald each had three.
The Mocs struggled at the face off Tuesday night as sophomore Jacob Czyz won a season-low 9-of-25 (.360) and freshman Boston Stofa went 0-of-4.
The Mavericks jumped out to a 3-1 lead after the opening five minutes of action but the Mocs found their footing and began a rally. The Mocs scored five-straight including four in the first and the opening goal of the second to take a 6-3 lead. CMU cut the lead to one with back-to-back goals midway through the second but the Mocs went on to score four goals in the final six minutes of the first half while allowing just one to take a 10-6 lead into the break.
Tighe scored the opening goal of the second half but that would be it for the Mocs in the third as the Mavericks scored three-straight to close out the quarter down 11-9. A CMU goal just over a minute into the fourth cut the deficit to just one with 13:40 to play. Following a Robichaud goal that put the Mocs up two, CMU scored two goals within 16 seconds of each other to tie the game with 9:29 left to play. Simone would make five stops during the final nine minutes of action to keep the Mavericks off the board while Wiech provided the game-winner with 2:14 left to play. Glasser found Wiech outside who whipped a low shot past the keeper for the lead.
Florida Southern will be back in action this Saturday, March 23 at noon as the Mocs welcome in Palm Beach Atlantic for the opening Sunshine State Conference game of the season. FSC will also honor its seniors prior to the contest.
