thanks to Travis Larner, Athletic Communications Assistant – Florida Southern College for this press release   CHARLES, Mo. – For the second time in as many weeks, the Florida Southern women’s lacrosse team was handed a heart-breaking overtime loss. This time, however, the 14-13 double-overtime loss to Lindenwood (Mo.) ended its season. The Lions will now (19-1) advance to the semifinals of the NCAA Division II Championship Tournament for the second year in a row after displacing the Moccasins (19-4), who made their NCAA Tournament debut Saturday. “I thought both teams fought really, really hard and that it was a great match,” said head coach Kara Reber. Although Lindenwood turned the ball over 23 times – 16 caused by the Moccasin defense – it was able to control the draw to gain possession. They won 19 of the game’s 31 draw controls, and outgained the Mocs 10-to-5 in the second half and overtime periods. The success on the draw came despite the absence of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year, Bailey Knapton, who led the Lions with 98 draw victories on the season. “They are a very aggressive team and they run through ground balls,” Reber said. “Even when it might come in our stick, they keep running through and maybe nudge it a little bit and come up with the ball.” The Lions also made the most of their free position attempts, converting five of their 10 chances while, for the second time this season, the Mocs came up empty, going 0-for-4. In the two-game series in St. Charles this season, FSC was 0-for-10 on free position shots. “Their goalie is just very good with straight-ahead shots,” Reber said. “We had talked about that you have to move the goalie and that coming in straight on her isn’t going to be the way to score.” Lorianne Hoover (Annapolis, Md.) had a chance to win the game with a free position shot at the end of the second half. With only 15 seconds left in regulation, Hoover was fouled by Lindenwood’s Sophie Buelow. The senior midfielder lined up directly in front of Rachel Ortell, but the freshman netminder saved Hoover’s shot to force overtime. “Free position shots have been a struggle for me all season,” Hoover said. “I should have taken an extra second either to run it in or to fake it.” Junior Ashley Robertson (Ellicott City, Md.) won the draw control to start the second overtime. Senior Megan Asper advanced the ball down the right-wing side but was checked as she attempted a cross-field pass and turned the ball over. “I looked over to the other side of the field and I saw (senior Caitlin Chase) wide open,” explained Asper. “I tried to get it over there but unfortunately there was a check to my arm, which clearly sent the ball in a completely different spot than were I was trying to get it to go. “That would have been a great play had it transpired the way I wanted it to go.” On the other end of the field, Lindenwood’s leading scorer, senior Melissa Menchella, netted the game-winner. The momentum appeared to be in favor of FSC to start the second half. The Mocs turned an 8-7 halftime deficit into a two-goal lead by scoring four of the first five goals in the period. Asper (Parkton, Md.) and freshman Emily Santoli (Fort Salonga, N.Y.) scored 39 seconds apart to put the Mocs up 9-8 inside the first two minutes of the second half. Lindenwood’s Jordyn Constance drew the game even with a rifle from the top of the circle at 16:48, but Robertson and Asper netted consecutive goals at 16:04 and 13:57 to jump ahead 11-9. Chase (Mt. Laurel, N.J.) found Robertson cutting through the heart of the defense for the first goal, and Asper followed by charging from behind the crease for a close-range shot. From there, the Mocs went on a 12-minute scoring drought while the Lions pieced together a 4-0 run, taking a 13-11 lead with 3:22 to go in the second half. Chase made a pair of key plays to knot the game at 13-all. She found Asper cutting down the middle of the defense to come within one. She then rolled along the crease from behind the cage, cutting underneath her defender for the point-blank, game-tying shot with 1:56 to go in the second half. “We knew it was going to be a tough fight knowing how close our last game was,” Hoover said. “With the momentum and the energy our team had, I think we all thought that we had this game. I am proud of all of us for laying it all out on the field.” Shannon Gilfedder (Longwood, Fla.) opened the scoring only 40 seconds into the contest. Lindenwood defender Molly Beckham threw the ball directly into Gilfedder’s stick, giving the freshman attacker an easy shot on goal with Ortell out of the crease. Less than a minute later, Hoover weaved through the defense for an unassisted goal, giving the Mocs a quick 2-0 lead. Asper tied the back-and-forth affair at 4-4 at the 12:44 mark in the first half by collecting a rebound off of her own blocked shot. Ortell raced out of the crease to chase the loose ball, but it bounced directly to Asper out of the scramble and the Lions’ goalie was unable to recover before the shot. Down 6-4, Chase, sophomore Kendall Kerge (Edgewater, Md.) and Robertson scored consecutive goals in order to take a 7-6 advantage. With a trio of defenders bearing down on Hoover, she spotted a wide-open Robertson alone in front of the goal for the go-ahead tally. The Lions regained the lead, 8-7, with five seconds before halftime on a free position shot. Asper led all scorers with four goals. Chase scored two goals with two assists for four points of her own. Hoover scored once with one helper, and led the team with five draw controls to go along with three caused turnovers. “I couldn’t have asked more for the seniors and what they gave in their last game,” Reber said. Redshirt freshman goalkeeper Ashley Seborowski (Annapolis, Md.) made 10 saves. She ends the year setting single-season program records for saves (134), save percentage (53.6) and goals-against average (7.67). “It was a great season by the girls,” Reber said. “Obviously it’s not enjoyable to end now, you want to end holding a national championship, but I thought it was a really good year for the girls and stellar careers by our seniors.”   Travis Larner Athletic Communications Assistant Florida Southern College 111 Lake Hollingsworth Dr. Lakeland, FL 33801 E: tlarner@flsouthern.edu P: 863-680-4256