No. 3 Spartans Welcome In Conference Foe Mocs

TAMPA, Fla. TAMPA, Fla. - The No. 3 University of Tampa men's lacrosse team will face off against Sunshine State Conference foe Florida Southern Friday night at the Naimoli Famil Athletic Complex.

The Spartans enter the contest boasting a record of 8-1 and fresh off 20-3 shellacking of the Adams State Grizzlies and currently riding a five-game winning streak.

Tampa's offense averages 14 goals per game and provides a balanced attack as Conor Whipple, Andrew Kew, Jake Schmidt and Mike Morris have all tallied double-digit figures in goals. The backbone of the offense is Whipple, who ranks second in the nation in points per game and leads the team in points(57), assists(26) and ranks second on the team in goals (31). UT's Andrew Kew is a pure scorer who leads the team with 33 goals and ranks fifth in the country in goals per game (3.67). Schmidt is a key player to focus on as a dual-threat he has been manhandling defenders on his way to 16 goals as well as dishing out five assists so far this year. Rounding out the group of talented attackers is Senior Mike Morris, who has slowly but surely sniped his way to 15 goals, with his flashy goals coming in flurries.

Defensively, Tampa's group is as talented as they come, featuring a mix of youth and experience. The defensive unit features upperclassmen Marty Heyn, Charlie Cummins and Ryan Vella as well as underclassmen like Luke Posner, Nick Balzano, and A.J. Ferraro. Together as a group, they've forced 45 caused turnovers and scooped up 96 groundballs. Vella leads the team in Caused turnovers and currently ranks 30th in Division II in caused turnovers per game (1.5), and Ferraro leads the group with his 28 groundballs.

At the Faceoff X, Tampa ranks 13th in the country in faceoff winning percentage. The duties are split between the combination of Tampa native Noah Menendez and Sophmore Alex Patton; Patton does the brunt of the work as he is posted a winning percentage of 67.2 which ranks him eighth in all of Division II.

The Mocs will come into the matchup with a record of an 8-5, and currently riding a three-game winning streak after defeating the Florida Tech Panthers 12-5.

Florida Southern's offense is paced by the dynamic duo of Lucas Claude and Tyler Kopen, who have both tallied 30 goals apiece on the season, and rank first and second on the team in points with 51 and 41 points each respectively.  Also providing heavy firepower for the Mocs offense is Cody Dyer and Cody Gray who've notched 25 and 21 goals each this season as well as dishing out double-digit assists with Dyer recording 19 and Gray registering 11 assists on the campaign.

Defensively, Austen Lison and Tyler Novak lead the way for Florida Southern as the pair have combined for 31 caused turnovers and pulled in 93 groundballs.

At the Faceoff X be sure to watch out for the battle between Tampa's Patton and SSC-Specialist of the Week Joseph Biondi Jr. Biondi has put up a faceoff winning percentage of 57.1 and amassed 51 groundballs on the year.

UT leads the series all-time with a record of 5-1 against FSC, with the latest victory coming in 2015, where the Spartans picked up the win by a score of 16-12.

Game time is set for 8 P.M. Live stats, as well as a web broadcast, will be available for fans to follow the action via TampaSpartans.com.

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