Women: #4 Moccasins Clinch Third-Straight SSC Championship With 18-5 Win Over #5 Rollins
photo via FSC web site
FSC Press Release
LAKELAND, FL – Florida Southern College women’s lacrosse clinched its third-straight Sunshine State Conference regular-season championship with a convincing 18-5 victory over No. 5 Rollins on Tuesday at Bryant Stadium.
The No. 4 Moccasins (15-2, 4-0 SSC) picked up their 12th-straight win of the season and topped the Tars (11-3, 2-1) for the fifth-straight time. With the win, the Mocs are assured of hosting the SSC Tournament, which will take place on April 28 (semifinals) and April 30 (championship).
HOW IT HAPPENED
• Florida Southern scored the first goal of the game when Cayla Shawfield found the back of the net just 53 seconds into the opening half. Shannon Gilfedder and Kendall Kerge would tack on goals in the next three minutes to give the Moccasins an early 3-0 lead.
• Rollins answered back with three-straight goals of its own to tie the contest with 20:46 left in the first half, but the Mocs responded with a 7-0 run to end the half and take a 10-3 lead into the locker room. Shawfield started the run with a pair of goals at the 19:31 and 16:31 marks of the first half, and Kerge, Shannon Gilfedder, Sam Keesey, Meghan O’Brien and Emily Santoli each found the back of the net over the final 16 minutes of the first period.
• Florida Southern’s momentum carried over into the second half, as the Moccasins ripped off three more goals before Rollins was able to respond. With the score standing at 13-4 and just over 14 minutes to play, Kerge would strike for three-straight goals to give the Mocs an insurmountable 16-4 lead wit 7:13 to play.
• Rollins would tack on a late goal on a free-position shot, but Florida Southern scored the final goal of the game to make it 18-5 at the final whistle.
• The Moccasins outshot the Tars 29-20, picked up 19 ground balls, won 16-of-24 draw controls, and completed 15-of-17 clear attempts.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
• Florida Southern won its 12th-straight game, and is just three wins shy of tying the school record for consecutive victories. The Moccasins improved to 6-4 all-time against Rollins, and 12-0 all-time in Sunshine State Conference games.
• Kerge finished with a game-high six goals on seven shots and also tallied two assists. She has scored multiple goals in 13 of the 15 games in which she has played this season.
• Shawfield finished with four goals, the second time this year she has tallied four goals in a single game. Meghan O’Brien scored twice, making it 13-straight games in which she has scored at least two goals.
• Megan Vadala finished with four caused turnovers and five ground ball pickups. She was also credited with three draw controls, while teammate Dani Bursinger finished with seven draw controls and tallied three assists.
• Entering the game, Rollins goalkeeper Malorie Olin was ranked fifth nationally in goals-against average and seventh in save percentage. The Moccasins scored 11 goals on Olin, who had been allowing just 6.47 goals per game. The victory over Rollins put an end to the Tars’ 10-game winning streak.
UP NEXT
• Florida Southern wraps up its regular-season home slate on Friday at 7 p.m. against Lenoir-Rhyne. The team will recognize its graduating seniors prior to the game.
• The Moccasins wrap up the regular season at No. 7 Limestone on April 22. The Sunshine State Conference Tournament will be held at Bryant Stadium on April 28 (semifinals) and April 30 (championship).
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Rollins Press Release
LAKELAND, Fla. (April 11, 2017) – A young fifth-ranked Rollins women’s lacrosse team squared up against their toughest competition yet this season, taking on the defending National Champion and No. 4 Florida Southern Moccasins in a key Sunshine State Conference and south region tilt on Tuesday night. Despite the Tars’ best efforts, Rollins fell to the Mocs by a final score of 18-5 at Bryant Stadium in Lakeland, Fla. The loss snaps a 10-game win streak for the Tars, and moves their record to 11-3 and 2-1 in Sunshine State Conference action, while the Moccasins advance to a mark of 15-2 and 4-0 in SSC play to claim the regular season conference title.
In total, the Tars saw just five upperclassmen and 13 underclassmen take to the field to face a stout Moccasin squad that was led by 10 upperclassmen and just two starting underclassmen. In total, a seasoned Florida Southern team saw a total of 11 upperclassmen and just seven underclassmen earn participation on the night.
Rollins was led in goals by freshman Hannah Ashton on the evening with two, followed by sophomore Kallie German, and freshmen Maggie Dougherty and Hannah Coakley with one apiece. German added the Tars’ lone assist for two points on the evening to close out the Tars’ scoring efforts. Sophomores Kaitlin Prince, Lindsay Van Beck, and Brooke Ottaway picked up a team high two ground balls apiece, while freshman Lily Rizk led the team in caused turnovers with two. Rizk and Dougherty also led the team in draw controls with two each on the night. In goal, Malorie Olin and Sarah Neely saw dual time, with Olin earning the start and seeing a total of 36 minutes in cage. The junior earned six saves while allowing 11 goals, while freshman Neely made five saves while allowing just seven goals in 24 minutes of action.
Florida Southern was led by senior Kendall Kerge in both goals and points, scoring six goals and adding two assists for a team best eight points on the night. Junior attacker Cayla Shawfield earned four goals and one assist on the night for five points, while sophomore Dani Bursinger dished out a team high three assists. Junior Shannon Gilfedder matched Bursinger in points with three, notching one goal and two assists. Junior Meghan Vadala led the game in both ground balls and caused turnovers with five and four respectively, while Bursinger won a game best seven draw controls on the night. In goal, senior Taylor Gillis earned six saves while allowing just five goals.
HIGHLIGHTS AND HALF ANALYSIS
First Half l Florida Southern opened up to a 3-0 lead with 26:37 on the clock, but the Tars whittled away at the deficit thanks to two goals by Ashton to pull to within one, 3-2 with 23:30 to go in the half. Rollins evened the score at 3-3 three minutes later thanks to an unassisted goal by Coakley, but the Mocs’ Shawfield broke the run at the 19:31 mark to give Florida Southern the 4-3 advantage. Shawfield’s goal ignited a seven goal run by the Mocs that saw them take a 10-3 lead with 8:40 to go in the period. The remainder of the period remained scoreless for both sides, closing out the first 30 minutes of play with the Mocs holding onto a seven goal lead, 10-3.
Second Half l The Mocs continued their run entering into the second half, scoring three straight to pull ahead to a 13-3 lead with 20:42 to go in the period. Dougherty broke the run at the 15:45 mark to pull the Tars back to within nine, 13-4, but the Mocs answered back at the 14:26 mark to pull back to a 10 goal differential, 14-4, and went on to tack on three more to pull out to a 17-4 advantage with 5:46 to play. German broke the Mocs’ four goal run as she converted a free position shot with 3:30 on the clock, and as the final seconds ticked down Florida Southern added one more goal to close out the key conference and regional win with a final score of 18-5.
GAME NOTES
- The Mocs snapped Rollins’ 10 game win streak while advancing their own win streak to 12
- Florida Southern has now won four straight against Rollins and leads the all-time series between the two programs, 6-4.
- The last time the Tars took down the Mocs was on April 26, 2015, where Rollins defeated Florida Southern by a score of 12-10 in overtime to claim the Inaugural Sunshine State Conference Tournament Championship title.
- Florida Southern became the first Sunshine State Conference team to win the women’s lacrosse national championship last season, defeating perennial powerhouse Adelphi by a final score of 8-7 on May 21, 2016.
- Rollins has now squared up against its sixth nationally-ranked opponent this season.
- The Tars’ starting lineup featured one senior, two juniors, five sophomores, and four freshmen, compared to Florida Southern’s starting 12, which featured three seniors, seven juniors, and two sophomores.
