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Bursinger Tallies Career-High 11 Points in Mocs 20-3 Home Win Over Shorter

Written by Lee Roggenburg on . Posted in .
From FSCMocs.com LAKELAND – Florida Southern completed its day-night doubleheader here Wednesday evening by scoring a season high 20 goals en route to earning a 20-3 victory over Shorter University at Bryant Stadium. The win over Shorter was the 12th-ranked Moccasins second win of the day on Wednesday as they posted a 16-8 win earlier in the day against Indiana (Pa.). With the two victories on Wednesday, the Mocs improved to 4-2 on the season and have now won four straight games since opening the season with back-to-back losses to both Grand Valley State and Adelphi. FSC and Shorter have now played three games all-time against each other and the Mocs have outscored the Hawks, 61-10, including winning last season’s game by a 20-1 score. Wednesday’s win over Shorter was played with a running clock over the game’s 41 minutes after the Mocs lead got to 10 goals. The 17 goal margin of victory is tied for the seventh largest margin of victory in school history. In the win, the Mocs got two or more goals from six different players, including freshman attacker Dani Bursinger (Powell, Ohio) tallying a career high four goals and also added a school record tying seven assists to finish with 11 points in the win. The seven assists tied a school record set by Caitlin Chase against Merrimack in 2013. Along with the four goals from Bursinger, freshman attacker Caitlyn Shoaff (Chuluota, Fla.) scored three goals, which were the first three goals of her collegiate career, while junior attacker Jackson Marshall (Gorham, Maine), freshman attacker Cassie Brown (Indian Trail, N.C.), freshman attacker Casey O’Brien (Morris Plains, N.J.) and sophomore defender Micaela Gately (Stevensville, Md.) each had two goals in the win. For Brown, Marshall and Gately, it was their first goals of the season. The Mocs sat out several of its regular starters against the Hawks, who arrived at Bryant Stadium nearly a half-hour after the scheduled start time of the game due to traffic issues on I-4 coming from Tampa. The game started at about 7:30 p.m., instead of 7 p.m. FSC put Wednesday’s game out of reach in the first nine minutes of the contest as the Mocs scored seven consecutive goals, including two goals and two assists from Bursinger. In fact, the Mocs scored the game’s first 11 goals before Shorter was able to find the nets on an unassisted goal by Tiffany Kongpachith with 8:09 left in the opening half. Following Kongpachith’s goal, the Mocs closed out the half by scoring three straight goals to take a 14-1 lead at the half. FSC would open the second half by scoring four straight goals in the first seven minutes to push out to an 18-1 lead. Shorter’s Crystal Marshall got the Hawks on the scoreboard with a free position shot just eight minutes into the second half to drop the Mocs lead to 18-2. The goal by Marshall was her 29th of the season. The Mocs would hit the 20 point threshold thanks to back-to-back goals from freshman midfielder Gracie Maganzini (Wolfeboro, N.H.) and Brown to give the Mocs a 20-2 lead. Shorter would complete the game’s scoring with a goal by McKinley Puckett with 2:44 left in the game. Along with the goals by Bursinger, Shoaff, Marshall, Brown, O’Brien and Gately, Maganzini, FSC’s other goals on the night came from redshirt freshman midfielder Shannon Mazza (Kings Park, N.Y.), redshirt junior attacker Allie Kryjak (Gaithersburg, Md.), freshman defender Kelsey O’Connor (West Bablylon, N.Y.) and senior defender Grace Donovan (Boise, Id.). For the game, the Mocs had 29 shots and 27 shots on goal, while Shorter had eight shots and six shots on goal. FSC was also strong on draw controls on the night as they had a 20-5 advantage, including Donovan recording a career high 10 on the night. The 10 draw controls is tied for second most in a single game in school history and the most since Megan Asper recorded a school record 12 draw controls against Gannon in 2014. The Mocs also had 12 caused turnovers and was 11-for-11 on clear attempts on the night. Sophomore goalie Paige Brodbeck (Millersville, Md.) played all 60 minutes between the pipes and allowed just three goals and also picked up three saves and one ground ball. FSC had a 16-6 edge in ground balls, including three apiece from freshman defender Lauren Norton (Westwood, Mass.) and freshman defender Adrianna Mannarelli (Ellicott City, Md.). Along with her goal, Marshall also took three shots, had three draw controls and was 1-for-2 on free position shots for the Hawks. Catherine Mitchner played nearly 50 minutes between the pipes for Shorter and recorded seven saves and had two ground balls, while allowing 20 goals. The Mocs will return to action on Saturday, March 12 with a 3 p.m. game against seventh-ranked Limestone at Bryant Stadium. Last season, the Mocs collected a 10-9 four-overtime win against the Saints in Gaffney, S.C.