Above -Dane Sorensen scored seven goals and recorded one assist vs. Colorado Mesa  Photo and article courtesy of FSCMocs.com

LAKELAND – Junior Dane Sorensen (Victoria, British Columbia) inched closer to a spot the record books tonight as Florida Southern cruised past Colorado Mesa for a 15-6 victory at Bryant Stadium.

The Moccasins, who received votes in the latest USILA Division II Coaches’ Poll and were ranked 15th in the latest Lacrosse Magazine media poll, improved their overall record to 7-3 in the final non-conference game of the regular season. The Mavericks, coming off their first loss of the season against Tampa just two days earlier, dropped to 3-2 on the year.

Sorensen, fresh off his 100th career goal in the win over Mars Hill this past Sunday, started the evening off with the game’s first goal at 9:12 in an extra-man possession with junior Brendan Mykle-Winkler (Langley, British Columbia), but Mesa struck back with a goal of their own at 5:02 to even the score at 1-1.

The British Columbia-native found the back of the net for the second time in the quarter, this time with freshmanGrant VanOverbeke (Rosemount, Min.) on the assist, to put the Mocs up 2-1 with 2:17 in the stanza. Neither team was able to put one in the net for the remainder of time, as Florida Southern went into the second quarter up 2-1.

Senior Chris Murphy (Camillus, N.Y.) netted his first goal of the night 2:34 into the second quarter give the Mocs a three goal lead, and his score was followed by Sorensen’s third of the contest to increase the FSC lead to 4-1, with VanOverbeke once again on the assist. Freshman Tyler Kuhlman (Wellington, Fla.) got on the board at 8:17 with his first score and put the Scarlet-and-White up 5-1 with plenty of time remaining before halftime.

The Mavericks finally put one past freshman Matt Lalli (New Milford, Conn.) at 5:59 of the second quarter, but Florida Southern went off for another three goal run to end the quarter. A man-up tally from senior Shane Tompkins (Bear, Del.), followed by goals from Sorensen and freshman Andrew Fisher (Monkford, Md.) gave Florida Southern a commanding 8-2 lead going into the break.

Colorado Mesa put one past Lalli 1:07 into the third quarter to reduce the deficit to five, but the potent Moccasin offense went off for another three unanswered goals from freshman Cody Dyer (Slingerlands, N.Y.), senior Dan Krispinsky (Fort Myers, Fla.) and Sorensen to go up 11-3 with 5:27 remaining in the quarter. Mesa scored their first EMO goal of the game with 4:01 left, but Kuhlman’s second goal of the contest at 2:08 gave FSC a 12-4 lead going into the final 15 minutes of action.

Yet another rip from Sorensen found the back of the net to build Florida Southern’s lead to nine, but another man-up Maverick goal put the score at 13-5. Two straight Moccasin goals from Sorensen and Mykle-Winkler gave the home team a 15-5 lead before Mesa scored at 1:27 to give the game its final score.

Sorensen’s seven goals, a new season and career-high, puts him two goals shy of breaking the record for goals scored in a single season of 44. The Canadian’s seven scores also ties a school record for most goals in a game, most recently set by Cameron Holding against Saint Leo in April 2010. Sorensen also added an assist to his stat line, giving him eight points on the evening.

Kuhlman was the only other Moccasin to finish with more than one goal, as the freshman scored twice in the victory. VanOverbeke, who tallied a team-high four assists in the win, has registered at least one point in every Moccasin game this season.

Krispinsky, who scored his first goal of the season on a fast-break off a draw, went 21-25 inside the faceoff circle tonight with seven ground balls. Seniors David Beaumont (New Westminster, British Columbia) and Brad Gysin (Noblesville, Ind.) and junior Trenell Boggans (Syracuse, N.Y.) each forced two Colorado Mesa turnovers in the win and combined for seven ground balls between the three of them. Lalli was a wall between the pipes tonight, making a career-high tying 12 saves in tonight’s win, with a game-high five stops coming in the third quarter.

For the Mavericks, Kade Robinson tallied two goals while Michael Beimford dished out a team-leading two assists in the loss. Shane O’Neil and Zach Bullett each caused two Moccasin turnovers on the night, while Brad Brandenburg made 12 saves to go along with his team-leading seven ground balls.

Florida Southern heads to Boca Raton to take on Lynn (1-6, 0-2) in a Sunshine State Conference showdown on Wednesday, April 2, at 7 p.m. The Mocs return to Bryant Stadium on Saturday, April 5, when they host SSC rival Saint Leo (7-3, 2-0) at 7 p.m.