The defending champions secured another Top-5 Victory. The Pace Setters topped the 5th ranked Florida Southern College Moccassins to stay perfect on the season.
Pace beat #4 University of Tampa earlier in the week on Monday, March 4.
The first quarter was mostly even for offense, Both teams held at one point lead. Florida Southern scored first, answered by two Pace got two of their own from Maddie Schubert and Angelina Porcello for a 2-1 lead. The Moccasins’ second lead was 4-3 with 5 minutes left in the quarter. Two goals in a row by the Setters, one from Nikki Mottes and one from Sydney Juvelier gave them a 6-4 lead. The advantage carried into the second quarter.
Pace kept building onto their lead. Angelina Porcello, who tallied a hattrick in the first quarter, added her fourth to make it 7-4. The lead ballooned to 9-4. The Mocs would crawl back to take the lead narrow, scoring two straight over a minute to make it 9-6. Two more by the blue and gold cushioned the lead before halftime. It capped a 6-3 scoring advantage in the period, giving the Setters an 11-7 halftime lead.
Quarter 3 was all Moccassins. Their efforts got the lead down to just one. A 3-goal-to-1 performance for FSC put momentum on the road team’s side. Their defense forced turnovers while draw control also went their way. Two of their goals came within 3 minutes, before reaching the 10 minute mark. The last at 8:55 by Abby McFerren was both her second of the quarter but made the difference just one. The lone goal for Pace for from Porcello’s stick. Her seventh of the game, it gave the home team breathing room, a lead of 12-10 into the final frame.
The first part of the first quarter was the most tense with multiple drops and ground balls forced. The Moccasions scored again to put the lead down to 1 again with 11 and a half minutes to go. The Pace offense woke again once the clock ticked under 11 minutes. Schubert scored again to make it a 2 goal advantage agan. Juvelier got her second followed by Porcello scoring goal number 8 to make it 15-11. FSC would not get it closer, let alone tied. The final score was Pace 16, Florida Southern 12.