No. 12 Florida Tech (9-1) was tested in its matchup with MIT (5-1) on Monday night at Palm Bay High School’s Pirate Stadium, but a solid fourth quarter propelled the Panthers past the Engineers 14-7. (Photo by Amanda Stratford Photography)
BREVARD COUNTY • MELBOURNE, FLORIDA – No. 12 Florida Tech (9-1) was tested in its matchup with MIT (5-1) on Monday night at Palm Bay High School’s Pirate Stadium, but a solid fourth quarter propelled the Panthers past the Engineers 14-7.
With the win, FIT increases its program record wins streak to seven games.
Zach Wynne
Senior Zach Wynne led Florida Tech with three goals and four assists while junior Jason Terry scored a hat trick. Junior Nick Wynne added two goals and one assist and sophomore Charlie Morrisette recorded one goal and two assists in the win.
Jordan Carlock
Senior Jordan Carlock had another outstanding defensive performance, accounting for seven caused turnovers and three groundballs against MIT.
MIT went up early in the game off a goal by Michael Traub. The Panthers responded with Terry’s first goal of the game at the 9:23 mark of the first quarter. Junior Nick Brown found the back of the net to give FIT its first lead at 2-1, but a goal by MIT’s Paul Orrson drew the game even heading into the second quarter.
Graham Davis found Traub in the second stanza to give MIT its second lead of the game at 3-2, but Florida Tech answered with goals by Zach Wynne, Terry and Morrisette to take a two goal lead. With 13 seconds remaining in the half, Orrson found Davis open on the crease and he snuck the shot past redshirt senior goalie Eric Biller to bring the Engineers to within one of the Panthers right before halftime.
Nick Wynne scored first in the second half to garner another two goal lead for the Panthers, but goals by Mitch Turley and Orrson evened it back up at 6-6 heading into the final quarter of play.
In the fourth quarter, Florida Tech started to find its groove on the offensive end.
Ryan McAleavey
“We totally underestimated MIT,” said head coach Ryan McAleavey.
“They have athletes. That team has guys that matched our speed and intensity at the midfield. We also came out too relaxed in the beginning and just didn’t give them enough credit. It resulted in us starting out slow in the first couple quarters, but in the fourth quarter our guys just had enough of it and we decided to change things up a bit. Once we did that we started to find the back of the net.”
The Wynne brothers ignited Florida Tech’s offense that peppered MIT goaltender Eric Bartell for eight goals in the fourth quarter.
Zach started it off finding his brother open on the wing for the team’s seventh goal of the game. Nick then fed Zach on a cut from behind the cage just 40 seconds later to give FIT an 8-6 lead. Traub responded with his third goal to bring MIT back to within one, but with 10 minutes remaining, Zach Wynne used a great inside roll to get by his defender and sneak the ball past Bartell to increase the lead back to two goals.
Morrisette dodged around the left wing and hit senior Andrew Conley on the run for the Panthers’ 10th goal. Senior Mike Marshner scored less than a minute later to push Florida Tech’s lead up to four.
Morrisette then found Terry for an absolute howitzer to the top-right corner to give the Panthers a 12-7 lead with 6:43 left on the clock.
Conley and junior Alex Carlson scored the final two goals to close out FIT’s second win in two games against MIT.
Sophomore Travis Wunder was dominant at the faceoff X tonight. Wunder took every faceoff for the Crimson and Gray, winning 20-of-23 attempts against the Engineers.
“Travis is probably the player of the game for us,” stated McAleavey. “When you have a faceoff guy, like Travis, who can make-it-and-take-it, it’s a huge advantage for the team.”
Biller was also impressive, totaling 14 saves, including nine in the first half. With the victory over MIT, he is now 9-0 on the season.
Florida Tech hosts Rollins College in the Panthers’ Sunshine State Conference home opener at 7 p.m. on Saturday at Pirate Stadium.
