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March 12, 2014

Men’s Lacrosse Set to Host a Pair of Games this Week

Tampa, Fla. - The No. 6 ranked men's lacrosse team is set to host a pair of games this week at the Naimoli Family Athletic and Intramural Complex. The Spartans will face Lees-McRae tomorrow afternoon at 4 p.m. and then host rival Florida Southern in their first Sunshine State Conference game Saturday night at 8 p.m.

The Spartans enter the week 5-0 after defeating No. 10 Lake Erie 19-8 last Saturday. The Spartans are led by Jake Rooney, Connor Whipple, and Nick Ferreiro. Rooney leads the team with 26 points (22 goals, 4 assists), while Whipple has netted at least three goals in every game so far this season. Ferreiro has a .738 faceoff win percentage and leads the Spartans picking up 45 ground balls, while tallying 17 points. Andrew Failla is 5-0 in the cage for the Spartans. He has made 44 saves and has a 5.87 goals against average.

Lees-McRae comes into the game with a 0-5 after falling to Lynn 15-3 on Tuesday night. The Bobcats are lead by Kyle Judge, Schuylor Dickerson, and Dalton Lamb. Judge leads the team with seven goals, while Dickerson has tallied five goals and an assist. Lamb has picked up a team-high 16 ground balls on the season.

Florida Southern comes into with a 3-2 record, winning their last three games over Rollins, Lake Erie, and Shorter. The Moccasins will face Belmont Abbey tomorrow at 7 p.m. Florida Southern is lead by Dane Sorensen, Grant VanOverbeke, and Matt Lalli. Sorensen leads the team with 20 goals and 26 points, while VanOverbeke has tallied 15 goals and nine assists. Lalli has made 37 saves on the season and a .430 save percentage.

This will be the fourth meeting between these two schools with the Spartans holding the 2-1 advantage. Tampa won last year's meeting 12-7 in Lakeland. In that game Florida Southern jumped out to an early 2-0 lead before Ferreiro scored back-to-back goals to even the score. The Spartans scored four straight goals to start the second quarter to give them a 6-3 lead with 9:44 left. After back-to-back Moccasins goals Joey McMahan found Greg Griffo for a goal to give Tampa a 7-5 lead at the break. The Spartans defense stepped up in the second half holding the Florida Southern attack to just two goals. Tampa found the back of the cage five times in the second half for the 12-5 final.

Live stats and a video webcast will be available through TampaSpartans.tv.

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