photo via Tampa web site   Tampa Press Release   TAMPA, Fla. –  The No. 9 Univeristy of Tampa defeats Florida Southern by a score of 13-12. INSIDE THE MATCHUP: Final: Tampa Spartans , Florida Southern Records: Tampa (12-4), Florida Southern  (7-7) Location: Naimoli Field l Tampa, Fla. All-time Series: Tampa leads the all-time series 9-1. Follow Us: @TampaSpartans on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Vimeo    HOW IT HAPPENED: 1st Period

• Florida Southern came hard the first period with three goals in a row.
• The first Spartan goal came from Sean Herdman, assisted by Conor Whipple.
• The Mocs had three more consecutive goals to make it 6-1 over Tampa.
• Jake Schmidt had the second goal for Tampa with an assist from Whipple.
• Mocs responded.
• Andrew Kew had his first goal of the game with 2:10 on the clock, assisted by Whipple.
• Florida Southern tacked on another goal to end the period 8-3 leading Tampa.

2nd Period

• The Mocs opened the period with a goal at 11:17.
• Tampa brings the score to 9-4 with a second goal from Herdman, assisted by Jud Huxtable.
• Kew’s second goal of the game came with 2:17 left on the clock, assisted by Whipple.
• The Vetter brothers team up at 1:25 to bring the game within three goals. Goal by Chris Vetter, assist from Matt Vetter.
• Another Kew and Whipple point with less than one second left on the clock had them down by two goals going into half time.

3rd Period

• Mocs open the period with a goal, now leading 10-7.
• Kew had his fourth goal of the game with an assist from Luke Posner at 9:39.
• The Mocs responded less than a minute later.
• Another Kew goal assisted by M. Vetter brings the score within two goals again.
• Bryan Wright had his first goal of the game with 4:19 left on the board, assisted by Andrew Kew.

4th Period

• Kew tied the game 11-11 with an assist from Whipple to start the period.
• Jake Mosher McGraw had his first goal of the game with an assist from C. Vetter to propel Tampa above Florida Southern 12-11 with six minutes left in the period.
• Whipple had an unassisted goal to give Tampa a two-goal lead.
• Noah Menendez had a game pivoting caused-turnover to give Tampa a breather.
• Florida Southern tacks on a goal with less than 30 seconds left but Tampa held them off to advance to the Sunshine State Conference Tournament finals.

  INSIDE THE STATS:

• Kew led all Spartans in goals with six.
• Whipple had seven points with six assists and one goal.
• Herdman tallied two goals.
• Noah Menendez went 9-for-16 on face-off wins.
• C.Vetter, Schmidt,Wright and Mosher McGraw each tallied two goals.
• A.J. Arnold had 13 saves in net.

  UP NEXT: Tampa will play Florida Tech in the Sunshine State Conference Tournament final. The match-up is  slated to start at 2pm at Naimoli Field in Tampa, Fla. Fans may follow via live stats at TampaStats.com or watch at TampaSpartans.tv.   =====   FSC Press Release   TAMPA, FL – Florida Southern College men’s lacrosse raced out to a stunning 6-1 lead over No. 1 seed Tampa, but was unable to hold on for the upset in a 13-12 defeat in the semifinals of the Sunshine State Conference Tournament on Friday evening. The Moccasins (7-8) stunned the Spartans (13-4) by storming out to a 3-0 lead in the first four minutes of action, but Tampa was able to steady itself and outscored the Mocs 10-4 over the final three quarters to earn a trip to the SSC Championship game. HOW IT HAPPENED • Cody Dyer put Florida Southern on the board first when he converted on a man-up opportunity just over a minute into the opening quarter. Colin Bayer and Dalton Simpson would add goals at the 12:14 and 11:03 marks of the opening period to give the Mocs an early 3-0 lead. • Tampa scored its first goal when Sean Herdman found the back of the net to make it 3-1 with 8:41 to go, but the Moccasins answered back with three-straight goals to take a 6-1 lead on Dyer’s second goal of the game with just over seven minutes to go in the first quarter. • Each team would score twice more before the end of the first period, as Florida Southern took an 8-3 lead into the second quarter. Dalton Simpson extended the lead to six goals (9-3) when he scored with 11:17 to play in the first half. • However, Tampa would reel off four-straight goals to end the half, including a goal as time expired, and trailed just 9-7 at the break. • Florida Southern was able to push its lead back to three on two occasions in the third quarter, but the Spartans scored twice in the final 10 minutes of the third quarter to slice the deficit to just one (11-10) heading into the final period of play. • Tampa’s third-quarter momentum would carry over to the fourth quarter, as it scored three-straight to open the period, taking its first lead at 12-11 with 6:12 to play. Conor Whipple would tack on another goal with 5:09 to go. • The goal would prove to be the difference as Tyler Kopen scored with 27 seconds left to bring FSC within one, but the Mocs were unable to score after winning the final faceoff of the game. • Florida Southern outshot Tampa 35-34, won 15-of-28 faceoffs and completed 15-of-16 clear attempts. The Mocs also grabbed 25 ground balls. INSIDE THE NUMBERS • Florida Southern fell to 1-3 all-time in the SSC Tournament, including 0-3 against Tampa. The Moccasins were eliminated by the Spartans in the semifinals for the second-straight year. • Colin Bayer and Dalton Simpson each scored three goals, while Cody Dyer score twice and added three assists. Tyler Kopen had two goals, and Jeff Phelps and Kyle Silverstein each found the back of the net once. • Austen Lison picked up a game-high seven ground balls, while goalkeeper Matt Lalli made 10 saves on the night.