Florida Tech Panthers Sports Roundup
By Florida Tech // April 13, 2014
Panthers Compete In Pair of Events
TRACK & FIELD – The Florida Tech Panthers split up Saturday for a pair of events. Throwers and field event competitors went to the Miami Alumni Invitational, and runners went to the Ryan McCall Track Classic in Tampa.
The Panthers turned in solid performances at the Miami Alumni Invitational. Rhoni Gavagni finished seventh in the women’s javelin throw with a toss of 29.82 meters. Connor Ahlborn finished eighth in the hammer throw with a toss of 48.27 meters.
On the men’s side, Phil Maloney finished seventh in the hammer throw with a toss of 43.06 meters, and Kevin Delgado finished seventh in the shot put with a throw of 15.39 meters.
At the Ryan McCall Track Classic, Umut Oztekin finished 10th in the men’s 100 meter dash with a time of 10.94 seconds. Nickolas Lenssen placed eighth in the men’s 800 meter race with a time of 2:00.20. Justin McMaster finished sixth in the men’s 5,000 meter race, as he finished with a time of 15:42.10.
On the women’s side, Ellyn Willse finished fourth in the 1,500 meter race with a time of 5:03.44. The Panthers placed three women in the top-10 of the 800 meter race. Chelsea Forgenie finished fourth with a time of 2:24.95, Inka Homeyer finished sixth with a time of 2:28.53, and Willse placed eighth at 2:30.40.
The Panthers will have to wait and see who gets accepted into the qualifiers only events coming up. Next weekend is the Tom Jones Memorial Invitational. The meet is hosted by the University of Florida, and will take place on Saturday, April 19.
Florida Tech Lacrosse Ends Season with 18-13 Loss to No. 12 Mocs
LACROSSE – Andrew Conley and Nick Wynne scored eight of Florida Tech’s (3-9 1-4 SSC) 13 goals but No. 12 Florida Southern College (10-3, 4-1 SSC) defeated the Panthers, 18-13, on Saturday afternoon at Bryant Stadium.
Conley added three assists in FIT’s 2014 finale. Florida Southern will be the No. 2 seed in the upcoming Sunshine State Conference Tournament, and will host either Saint Leo University or Rollins College on Saturday, April 19.
Freshman Zack Kunkel (1-2, 1-2 SSC) stopped 12 shots in goal but was tagged with the loss, while Mocs goalie Matt Lalli (10-3, 4-1 SSC) turned away nine shots for his 10th win of the season.
The Panthers struck first on a goal by freshman Charlie Morrisette with 13:18 remaining in the opening quarter. However, Florida Southern’s Grant VanOverbeke scored three unanswered goals to give the Mocs a 3-1 advantage.
FIT quickly followed with back-to-back goals by Conley and Christian Isola to tie the game at 3-3, and ended the first quarter with a one-goal lead after Conley’s unassisted goal – his second of the game and quarter – with 1:04 left in the frame.
Florida Southern scored three goals to begin the second quarter and closed the first half with an 8-6 lead. Wynne scored his first two goals of the game in the second quarter, the first goal coming off an assist from Brian Bacarella.
FIT outscored the Mocs, 4-3, in the third quarter to cut its deficit to one goal heading into the fourth quarter. In the third, Conley scored one goal and recorded three assists, Morrisette added his second goal of the game, and Alex Carlson scored his first goal of the SSC bout.
The fourth quarter was all Florida Southern as the Mocs ran away with the victory, 18-13, despite Wynne’s two fourth-quarter goals, and Mike Marshner’s only goal of the contest.
Panthers Take Series From Florida Southern With Saturday Split
BASEBALL – After Friday night’s victory, the Florida Tech Panthers returned to Henley Field Saturday afternoon for a doubleheader against No. 14 Florida Southern. The Panthers seemed to be in control of game one, but the Mocs made a late charge, and used a home run in extra innings to earn the 8-7 victory.
The Panthers responded by taking game two, and the Sunshine State Conference series 1-0 in extra innings.
The Panthers offense jumped out to a quick lead in the top of the first in game one. Senior Dan Bodziak extended his hitting streak to 13 games with a double. Later senior Jorge Chavarriascored both Bodziak and freshman Grant McKown with a base hit. Senior Jimmie Koch then stepped up with a two-run home run. The homer was the fifth of the season for Koch, and gave the Panthers a 4-0 lead.
Up by four runs, the Panthers offense went back to work in the fourth inning. Freshman Trent Masih, senior Andrew Bartlett, and Bodziak collected the RBIs for the Panthers. The runs put the squad up 7-0.
After being kept off the board for the first five innings, the Mocs got back into the game with five runs in the sixth. The Mocs scored their five runs on four hits, and also used an error by the Panthers to their advantage.
Jimmy Correnti provided a two-RBI single to right, as the big hit of the inning. Florida Southern added another run in the eighth inning, which cut the Panthers’ lead to 7-6.
The score remained 7-6 as the game headed to the bottom of the ninth.
The Mocs were able to load the bases, and the tying run scored on a passed ball. Game one headed to extra innings with the scored tied at seven.
After neither team scored in the 10th inning, the Mocs came to the plate in the bottom of the 11th.
Keith Curcio put an end to the game with a walk-off home run to right field. The long ball gave the Mocs the game one victory 8-7.
