Sammons is SSC Player-of-the-Week

Florida Southern's first win over a nationally ranked team and the first goals of Morgan Sammons' career have added up to a first for the Sunshine State Conference. The Moccasin freshman was named the SSC Offensive Player-of-the-Week on Tuesday, making her the first defender in league history to win that award.

Sammons graduated from Newsome High School in Lithia last spring, but has already made a huge impact for Florida Southern. While starting as a center back for the Moccasins, Sammons helped the team to a 2-1 overtime win at 9th-ranked Franklin Pierce last Friday, and a 1-0 victory at Massachusetts-Lowell on Sunday. In those two games, the Mocs allowed only seven shots on goal. In the first one, the Mocs gave up a goal just three minutes into the game, but went on to shut out the Ravens the rest of the day, while giving up just six total shots during the second half and overtime. In game two of their New England road trip, the Mocs held the River Hawks to only four shots in the second half, none of which were on target.

Despite the defensive numbers, it was her offensive production that helped Sammons clinch the award. With the Mocs trailing Franklin Pierce, 1-0, Sammons tied the game with less than six minutes to play in the second half following a long down-field run. Then, just 1:16 into overtime, Sammons scored on a counter-attack, again coming out of the back, to give Florida Southern the 2-1 win.

Coming off its first trip to the NCAA Tournament, Florida Southern is 2-2 this season against four teams that combined for a 47-18-14 record last year. The Mocs have already faced two other teams from last year's NCAA playoff field (Georgia College and Franklin Pierce), and will play five more by the end of the regular season. They'll make their first home appearance of 2009 this weekend when they host Thomas (GA) on Friday at 5:00 p.m., and 2nd-ranked West Florida on Sunday afternoon at 2:30.