No. 24 Florida Tech Rallies For 16-11 Win Over Slippery Rock At Panther Stadium

By  //  March 12, 2019

After Slippery Rock grabbed a two-goal lead early in the second half, No. 24 Florida Tech’s offense woke up and exploded for eight unanswered goals and the Panthers outlasted The Rock, 16-11, at Panther Stadium. (Louise Marinacci/ FIT Image)

BREVARD COUNTY • MELBOURNE, FLORIDA – After Slippery Rock grabbed a two-goal lead early in the second half, No. 24 Florida Tech’s offense woke up and exploded for eight unanswered goals and the Panthers outlasted The Rock, 16-11, at Panther Stadium.

Leah Dunn matched her career-high with seven points against SRU. Sam Schiano finished with a hat trick, three assists, four caused turnovers, and three ground balls. Alexis Townsend also notched a hat trick to go along with an assist and three ground balls. Mollie Kaplan added two goals, an assist, and four draws.

Lexi Woviotis collected five ground balls, five draws, four caused turnovers, and two goals. Brittney Embree guided the Panther defense with a game-high six ground balls and four caused turnovers. Chloe Zador picked up her fifth win of the season while making four saves in goal.

Kaplan opened the scoring with an unassisted tally at 27:01. She then found the back of the net off an assist from Dunn with 23:43 to go in the first half.

After Dunn netted her first of the game on a free position attempt, Kaplan found Townsend in front of the net for another goal, and the Panthers led 4-0 with more than 21 minutes left in the first half.

SRU scored consecutive goals to cut the margin to two with 17:39 remaining. Tech responded with a 3-1 run, on tallies by Schiano, Townsend and Dunn, and increased its advantage to 7-3.

The Rock notched five of the last six goals of the first half and was able to get back into the game and tie it up at 8-8 at halftime.

Slippery Rock took advantage of a late first-half penalty by the Panthers and scored early in the second half on the man-up to grab their first lead of the game. The Rock then moved it to 10-8 with another unassisted goal just after the 23-minute mark.

Consecutive goals by Dunn, the first off an assist from Schiano, evened the game at 10-10 with just over 21 minutes to go.

From there, the Panthers tallied six more unanswered goals, including two from Schiano, to build their lead to 16-10 with 4:56 remaining. SRU ended its drought with a score 22-seconds later. However, it was too little too late for The Rock as Tech went on to earn its third win in a row.

No. 5 Florida Tech Climbs To Seventh In Second Round of Southeastern CollegiateRelated Story:
No. 5 Florida Tech Climbs To Seventh In Second Round of Southeastern Collegiate

The Panthers finished the contest with an advantage in shots (26-22) and ground balls (25-15). Both teams collected 14 draw controls and 23 turnovers in the game.

Florida Tech opens Sunshine State Conference play this Saturday, Mar. 16, as the Panthers travel to Lakeland for a matchup with rival No. 3 Florida Southern. The contest is set to begin at 1 p.m. at the Barnett Athletic Complex.

For the latest news, updates and information on the Florida Tech women’s lacrosse team, visit FloridaTechSports.com.

CLICK HERE FOR BREVARD COUNTY NEWS