Wingate, N.C.----Florida Southern College sophomore attack Kyle Silverstein (Smithtown, N.Y.) and freshman attack Kevin Dyer (Slingerlands, N.Y.) tallied two goals each to lead the Moccasins in a 9-7 comeback triumph over the Wingate University Bulldogs in NCAA Division II men's lacrosse action from Graham Gill Field at the Irwin Belk Complex Friday afternoon. The Mocs trailed by a 4-1 deficit late after the first quarter and outscored the host Bulldogs 8-3 for the remainder of the contest.
 
Wingate is now 2-1 overall, while Florida Southern improves to 1-1 in the early season. The WU Bulldogs are back in action on Saturday, March 4 when they host Mars Hill University for their South Atlantic Conference opener. Florida Southern visits Queens University of Charlotte this Sunday at 12 noon to conclude their N.C. non-conference road trip.
 
WU senior attack Austin Murphy (Orillia, Ontario) led the Bulldogs with three goals in the contest to bring his team-leading season total up to seven tallies. Four other Wingate student-athletes contributed one goal each.
 
Florida Southern struck first in the opening quarter on a goal from sophomore midfielder Dalton Simpson (Henderson, Nevada) to give the visitors an early 1-0 advantage at the 13:27 mark. Wingate soon answered with four consecutive tallies to jump out to a 4-1 lead with 5:05 remaining in the stanza. The first two goals were from Murphy, while sophomore midfielder Conor Gronbach (Cary, N.C.) and senior midfielder Vinny Aiello (Centereach, N.Y.) netted the next two scores.
 
Wingate held the 4-1 lead at the break between quarters; however, Florida Southern responded with three straight goals of their own to knot the score up at 4-4 with 5:29 to play in the second frame.
 
WU redshirt senior attack Ryan Vogrig (Vancouver, B.C.) found the back of the net to give the Bulldogs a 5-4 advantage at the 1:48 plateau, but the Mocs then tied the contest on a Dyer unassisted tally to make it a 5-5 game with 1:05 remaining in the first half. The score remained tied at 5-5 at the halftime intermission.
 
It was back-and-forth affair in the second half of play with Florida Southern breaking the tie on an unassisted goal from freshman midfielder Ashton Ceppos (Orlando, Fla.) for the go-ahead score to make it 6-5 with 13:27 remaining in the third frame.
 
Wingate sophomore attack Alex Llerandi (Marietta, Ga.) scored his fifth goal of the young season to tie it up at 6-6. The Mocs then added back-to-back tallies to grab their largest lead of the game at 8-6 with 2:34 on the third quarter clock. Florida Southern maintained the 8-6 advantage entering the final quarter of play.
 
The Bulldogs cut the deficit in half on the third goal from Murphy on an assist from senior attack Tanner Kotch (Butler, Pa.) to make it 8-7 with 11:28 to play in the fourth stanza. Neither team would score until 55 seconds remained in regulation when Silverstein netted the game-sealing tally to clinch the Moccasins' first win of the 2017 campaign.
 
Both goalkeepers played 60 minutes Friday. Wingate junior Will Sheridan (Woodstock, Ga.) posted a career-high 22 saves. He allowed nine goals. FSC senior Matt Lalli (New Milford, Conn.) collected his first 2017 victory with 16 saves. Lalli surrendered seven goals.

(Wingate University athletic media relations/sports network student assistant Jackson Kaplan contributed this article. A sophomore from Raleigh, Kaplan is a Communication Studies major at Wingate.)