LAKELAND, Fla.- The Palm Beach Atlantic men's lacrosse team lost to No. 15 Florida Southern College by a score of 18-7 on Saturday afternoon. The Sailfish (4-2) have now lost back-to-back games since beginning the season 4-0.
In the first quarter, Florida Southern scored four goals straight to start the game. They almost held the Sailfish to zero goals to start the quarter, but with a little under a minute and a half remaining in the period, Hunter Hopman scored the first goal of the game for the 'Fish after a ground ball by Brendan Pedisich. PBA had one more opportunity in the last seconds after a Pedisich save that led to a shot by Keegan Southard, but it was unfortunately saved by the Mocs goalie, and the score would remain 4-1 going into the second.
In the first couple minutes of the quarter, the 'Fish scored to cut the lead to two after Southard scored his 10th goal of the season. The Mocs responded with three goals of their own to push the lead to 7-2 over the next seven minutes. Southard scored again after Tyler Hopkins found him for the assist. Florida Southern wasn't done putting the pressure on PBA, as they went on another run to push the lead to 9-3. Before the period concluded, the 'Fish had a 2-0 run of their own. That was thanks to Aaron Miechiels and Austin Aireys scoring both goals in the final 13 seconds of the half. Sarver Adams and Brad Wharton were the two creators of the play and were credited with the assists. The score going into the break was 9-5 in the Mocs favor.
Florida Southern scored first to open up the half, but the 'Fish scored their sixth goal after Henry Sloyan found Southard for his third goal of the game, making it 10-6. A 5-0 run by the Mocs gave them a comfortable nine-point lead and dominated the majority of the quarter on both ends. The 'Fish scored their final goal of the game in the final seconds of the period. Hopman was the shot-maker after he picked up a ground ball that led to the score. The 'Fish did not score the rest of the game and gave up three goals in the final quarter, and the Mocs walked away with an 18-7 victory.
Southard led the team with three goals on seven shots, and Hopman also had a notable performance with two goals on four shots. Hopman also had two ground balls to go with his stat sheet. Pedisich started in goal and played the entire game. He had 18 saves on 18 goals attempted, though he was credited with his second loss of the season.
The men's lacrosse team will compete again next Saturday where they will take on the University of Tampa and will be home for the game.
