Florida Tech (6-5) needed a strong performance from its offense to defeat Catawba College (7-7) on Saturday. (FIT Image)
BREVARD COUNTY • MELBOURNE, FLORIDA – Florida Tech (6-5) needed a strong performance from its offense to defeat Catawba College (7-7) on Saturday.
The Panthers matched the Indians’ intensity throughout the contest and came away with the 19-17 road win.
With the victory, FIT has now won two consecutive road contests for the first time all season.
Sara Grenier
Freshman Sara Grenier paced the Panthers with a game-high six goals.
Allie Modica
Sophomore Allie Modica finished with five goals and freshman Caroline Dunleavy recorded three goals and one assist. Freshman Mary Gormley added two goals and two assists in the win.
Gormley put the Panthers on the board first with a free possession goal less than two minutes after the opening draw.
Hannah Scott tied the game for Catawba with her first tally, but sophomore Heather Roache scored 50 seconds later to give FIT a 2-1 lead. The Indians responded with two goals in a matter of 48 seconds to take a 3-2 lead with 24:52 remaining in the first half.
Florida Tech answered Catawba’s run with three consecutive scores, including two by Modica, to take back the lead 5-3.
The Indians fired in four of the next six goals to tie the game at 7-7 with 5:15 remaining in the half. Grenier scored three minutes later to give the Panthers an 8-7 lead heading into halftime.
Roache struck first in the second half on her free possession attempt but Catawba answered with a goal by Megan Shortt 23 seconds later to bring the score to 9-8.
With the victory, FIT has now won two consecutive road contests for the first time all season. (FIT Image)
The Panthers went on to fire in three straight goals over the next 68 seconds to give them their largest lead of the game at 12-8, however the Indians responded with three goals of their own to decrease the deficit to 12-11.
FIT answered with three more scores, by Dunleavy, Grenier and Modica, to push its lead back to four.
Catawba fired back, scoring six of the next eight goals over the next 10 minutes, to tie the game at 17-17 with 4:01 remaining in the second half.
Gormley tallied her second of the game to put the Panthers back on top with 2:27 left, and Dunleavy sealed the victory with a man-up goal in the final seconds.
Catawba won the draw control battle (24-13), but FIT out shot (38-34) and snagged more ground balls (28-24) than their opponent.
The Panthers’ defense also played well, forcing the Indians into 16 turnovers in the first half and 26 for the game, including 14 caused turnovers.
Freshman goalie Stephanie Stuart recorded 11 saves for the Panthers, while her counterpart, Bethany Davis, made nine stops for the Indians.
Corinne Desrosiers
“We had a bit of a sloppy day today,” said head coach Corinne Desrosiers.
“We need to have more focus on draws and do a better job of limiting our turnovers. Our offense did a good job of attacking their defense and getting a lot of shots off today. Everyone on the team had to work together for this one. Even when they tied the game at 17-17, we were able to pull the team together and score late to get the win.”
“Overall, we are happy we came away with the win against a good team,” said Desrosiers.
The Panthers return home for their first-ever Sunshine State Conference game against Rollins College on Wednesday, April 8 at 7 p.m. at Palm Bay High School’s Pirate Stadium.
