via FIT press release, by Christina Hardman

BOX SCORE

MELBOURNE, Fla. – Men’s Lacrosse returned home to take on No. 15 Colorado Mesa, but came up short. CMU pulled ahead in the sixth minute of the game and never let go of the lead, no matter how hard Tech fought.  

INSIDE THE MATCHUP:
Final: No. 20 Florida Tech 14, No. 15 Colorado Mesa
Records: Florida Tech (4-3, 0-0 SSC) | Colorado Mesa (7-1, 0-0 RMAC)
Locations: Panther Field | Melbourne, Fla.  

FIRST QUARTER:

• CMU got on the board early with a quick goal 15 seconds in.
• Zach Rozgonyi scored the opening goal for the Panthers with 11:21 to go, while Justin Carte followed off an assist by Nate Deplancke to make the score 2-1 with 10:14 left.
• After the Mavericks scored three straight to take a slight 4-2 lead, Deplancke rebounded a Noah Stecher shot and found the back of the net to cut the deficit, 7:23 to go.
• Two consecutive goals game SMU the 6-3 lead, before Tech tallied two of their own to stay in the game.
• Collin Stewart scored his first of the day off an assist from Andrew Walenty before Carte tallied his second goal, assisted by Stecher, to end the period with CMU up by one.

SECOND QUARTER:

• CMU outscored Tech 5-3 in the second period
• Mavericks were first to score but Walenty answered back on an unassisted effort.
• CMU tallied another before Austin Engeler put one on the board, 5:59 remaining.
• Mavericks went on a 3-1 run to close out the half and lead 11-8.
• Panther’s goal was scored by Engeler after Cooper Leonard forced a turnover right after the faceoff, sending the ball straight into Engeler’s possession for a wide open shot.

THIRD QUARTER:

• Mavericks outscored Tech 6-2 with one man-up goal.
• Stewart scored on a man-up assisted by Rozgonyi with 9:58 on the clock.
• Tech’s only other goal came after a CMU pass was broken up by Tech, and Sam Balch collected the ground ball to move it up to Stecher, who took it up the rest of the field and found the back of the net.

FOURTH QUARTER:

• Two back-to-back goals, one man-up, to open the period would push CMU’s lead 19-10.
• Engeler finished the hat trick on a feed from Jakob Terpak with 13:45 to go.
• Stewart tallied two goals, one man-up, to cut into CMU’s lead 19-13 with 5:54 remaining.
• Carte would complete the hat trick and tally Tech’s final goal of the game before CMU added one to end the game and take the 20-14 win.

NOTABLE PANTHERS:

• Collin Stewart led Tech with four goals, two caused turnovers, and one ground ball.
• Austin Engeler completed a hat trick to go along with three ground balls, and one caused turnover.
• Justin Carte finished with a hat trick and one ground ball.
• Nate Deplancke, Zach Rozgonyi, and Andrew Walenty each tallied one goal and one assist, while Noah Stecher recorded one goal and two assists.
• Brian Barlotta led the Panthers with four ground balls.
• Connor Young and Sam Balch each posted two caused turnovers.

INSIDE THE BOXSCORE:

• CMU finished with an edge in shots (50-36)
• Mesa dominated on ground balls (46-29) and at the battle at the X, winning 25-38 faceoffs.
• Tech ended with fewer turnovers (19-22) and one more caused turnover (11-10).

BEYOND THE BOXSCORE:

• CMU takes a 2-1 lead all-time against Tech.
• Stewart moves up to fourth all-time in program history for career man-up goals with 13.
• Cooper Leonard moves into the top-10 in program history for single-season faceoffs won with 77.

UP NEXT: Florida Tech opens SSC play on Saturday, March 25, when they travel to Saint Leo. The contest is set to begin at 11 a.m.


For the latest news, updates and information on the Florida Tech men’s lacrosse team, visit FloridaTechSports.com. Fans can also stay up-to-date on the latest Panthers news by following Florida Tech Athletics on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.