Florida Tech Men’s Lacrosse Team Earns Four All-Sunshine State Conference Selection
By Florida Tech Sports Information // April 28, 2023
Sam Balch earned First Team honors for the second consecutive year
BREVARD COUNTY • MELBOURNE, FLORIDA – The Florida Tech men’s lacrosse team earned four All-Sunshine State Conference selections, announced by the SSC office on Thursday.
The Panthers placed one on the All-SSC First Team, one on the Second Team, and two on the Freshman Team.
Sam Balch earned First Team honors for the second consecutive year, while Collin Stewart tallied his first All-SSC honors on the second team. The All-Freshman team consists of Jax Francisco and Nicky Vreeland.
Balch finished another strong season with the Panthers, sitting fourth in the nation with 2.93 caused turnovers per game and 41 overall.
He racked up three or more caused turnovers in eight games in 2023, in addition to ranking third on the team with 38 ground balls. He also added three assists on the year.
The defender closes out his Florida Tech career, ranking second on the all-time list for caused turnovers with 85.
Stewart earns his first All-SSC nod after finishing second on the team with 46 points on 39 goals and seven assists, including a single season program-record nine man-up tallies, to go along with 19 ground balls and 10 caused turnovers.
The junior attackman recorded at least four points in seven games this season.
Francisco had a strong start to his collegiate career in net for the Panthers in 2023.
The freshman played in every game this season and recorded double-digit saves in 10 out of 14 games. The Westminster, Md. native recorded 157 saves and a save percentage of .495 while facing 545 shots. He set a career-record 16 saves against Saint Leo.
Rounding out Florida Tech’s selections is Vreeland, a midfielder out of Wesley Chapel, Florida.
This season, he played in 11 of Tech’s games and recorded eight goals, three assists, and eight ground balls. He produced his best performance against Saint Leo, tallying his first career hat trick.
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