Jupiter alum Jackson Bashaw 4G/5GBs for Tampa. Stoneman alum Thomas Frank 4G/1GB/1CTO, SJP alum Nick Shannon 5GBs/3CTOs, LHP alum Jack Frazee 1A/1CTO, Lakeland alum Kaleb Cook 1A/2GBs/1CTO, Newsome alum Rylan Reese 1GB/1CTO for FSC.

via the school press releases/websites

BOX SCORE

Spartans Outlast Mocs in Conference Semifinal

TAMPA, Fla. – No. 3 Tampa defeats Florida Southern to advance to the conference championship.

The Mocs would waste no time to begin the game, opening the scoring within the first minute and a half. Freshman Zack Friend scored the Spartans’ first goal to tie the game at one. Jackson Bashaw netted one soon after, giving Tampa their first lead. Florida Southern scored three consecutive goals with just under three minutes left in the first, to put them in the lead by two. With just under 10 seconds left in the first quarter, the Mocs scored their fifth goal, putting them in the lead by three headed into the second quarter.

The second quarter began with Charlie Bolesh scoring his first goal of the game. Shortly after Bashaw netted his second goal of the game, closing the gap to one goal. Soon after, Florida Southern put one in the back of the net regaining their two-goal lead. Evan Ansted found the back of the net with his unassisted goal, leaving five minutes left on the clock. Less than a minute later Nick Papa scored his first goal of the game assisted by Owen Miller to tie the game. Papa scored again with an assist by Andrew Milani to put Tampa back in the lead. Milani netted one soon after, assisted by Miller. With less than a minute left in the game, Milani scored his second goal assisted by Canyon Birch to finish the first half Tampa leading nine to six.

The second half began with Miller netting his first of the game three minutes into the quarter. Milani finishes off his hat trick, making it his fifth consecutive game with a hat trick. Assisted by Mitchell Pfeiffer, Bashaw scores his third goal, making it his fourth hat trick of the season. Milani goes on to score back-to-back goals, with the Spartans leading by six. Florida Southern got one back in the quarter, sending Tampa into the final 15 minutes with a five-goal lead.

The final quarter began with Friend assisting Papa on an early goal, finishing off Papa‘s hat trick. Florida Southern scored consecutive goals, cutting the Tampa lead by four. Milani netted his sixth goal of the game unassisted, extending the Spartans’ lead. Bashaw netted his fourth of the game soon after off a pass from Aaron Cho. The Spartans’ second-half offensive explosion proved too much for the Mocs to handle, as they earned their spot in the SSC Championship game.

Stat of the Game – This is Andrew Milani‘s fifth consecutive game with a hat trick.

TAMPA POST-GAME NOTES 

• The Spartans have won 14 straight.
• Luca Mercaldo started in net, recording 12 saves.
• Milani recorded his ninth hat trick of the season.
• 15 Spartans contributed to the score sheet tonight.
• Three Spartans recorded hat tricks; Bashaw, Milani, and Papa.

UP NEXT – Tampa will host the conference championship game on Saturday at 12:00 p.m.

*****

#19 Florida Southern Falls in SSC Semifinals

TAMPA, Fla. – The t-19^th-ranked Florida Southern College men’s lacrosse team fell Wednesday afternoon in the semifinals of the 2024 Sunshine State Conference Tournament on the road at third-ranked University of Tampa, a rematch of the 2023 semifinals. Unfortunately for the Moccasins, the Spartans were able to get revenge for the 2023 defeat as the top-seeded hosts took a 17-11 victory.
 
The loss drops the Moccasins’ record to 10-8 on the season while the Spartans improve to 17-1 on the year.
 
Graduate student Thomas Frank, fresh off being named the 2023-24 Florida Southern Athletics Male Comeback Athlete of the Year, led the Mocs with four goals, his third four goal performance of the season. The Coral Springs, Fla. native also caused a turnover and scooped up a ground ball in the loss. Junior Brydon Robichaud finished with two goals and an assist for a three-point effort while freshman Grant Ansted and sophomore Caiden Wiech each chipped in two points. Ansted, who was battling not only the Spartans but his older brother Evan Ansted a graduate student on the Tampa squad, finished with a goal and an assist while his brother tallied one goal for the Spartans. Wiech earned both his points off goals, both coming in the second half.
 
Freshly named SSC Defensive Player of the Year Nick Shannon caused a team-best three turnovers to bring his career record total to 132 while also scooping up a team-high five ground balls. Graduate student Jonas Aquilla picked up two caused turnovers while seven others each had one.
 
Sophomore Jacob Czyz led the face off group as he went 10-of-21 (.476) in the match-up with four ground balls. Three others went to the middle for the Mocs and went a combined 1-of-9 (.111) with sophomore Luke Henricksen earning the only other win.
 
Senior Michael Simone once again picked up double-digit saves in goal for the Mocs as he finished with 10 saves in the loss to move to 10-8 on the season.
 
Andrew Milani led the Spartans with eight points which came off six goals and two assists. Jackson Bashaw (4g) and Zach Friend (1g,3a) each finished with four points for the hosts. Luca Mercaldo picked up the victory in the cage while making 12 saves.
 
The Mocs scored the opening goal of the contest as Robichaud was able to beat the keeper for a 1-0 lead just 1:31 into the game. The Spartans bounced back and scored the next two goals just over two minutes apart to take a 2-1 advantage at the 10:53 mark.
 
The score would remain 2-1 for over six minutes until Frank struck for his first tally of the game off an assist from senior Jack Frazee. Sophomore Nolan Tighe then gave the Mocs the lead just 39 seconds later. The Moccasin run continued at the 2:53 mark as Frank once again beat Mercaldo to put the visitors up 4-2. With the clock running down on the end of the first period junior Matt Flammenspeck found an opening off an assist from Ansted to put the Mocs ahead 5-2 at the first intermission.
 
The Spartans were able to secure the opening two goals of the second to cut the lead to just one but Ansted found the back of the net for the Mocs at the 6:47 mark to push the lead back to two, 6-4. Ansted’s brother Evan then answered for the Spartans just over a minute later than began a string of seven-straight goals for the Spartans that spanned into the second half.
 
Tampa ended the first half ahead 9-6 and then tallied two goals in the opening four minutes of the third quarter to open up an 11-6 advantage. Wiech scored the first of his goals with 7:37 left in the third but the Spartans responded just over two minutes later with back-to-back goals within 12 seconds of each other. With Tampa leading 13-7, Robichaud scored off an assist from senior Kaleb Cook with 3:29 left in the third. The Spartans answered within a minute but Frank was able to find a late goal before the end of the period to close the third down 14-9.
 
Tampa scored the opening goal of the fourth just 54 seconds into the period to retake six-goal advantage, 15-9. Just over three minutes later, Wiech picked up his second goal of the afternoon off an assist from junior Blake Terry. Another three minutes went by before Frank scored his final goal of the contest in a man-up situation off an assist from Robichaud. The Mocs trailed 15-11 with 7:52 remaining but FSC was unable to break through the rest of the contest as Tampa added two more goals down the stretch for a 17-11 final.