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Panthers Knock Off No. 17 Crusaders in Overtime

Collin Stewart scores game-winner as Florida Tech defeats Belmont Abbey 13-12 for the Panthers first win of the season

BOX SCORE

INSIDE THE MATCHUP
Final: Florida Tech 13, #17 Belmont Abbey 12 OT
Records: Florida Tech (1-1), Belmont Abbey (0-2)
Location: Alumni Field | Belmont, N.C.

FIRST QUARTER:

• Panthers took advantage of an early extra-man opportunity as Zach Rozgonyi scored his first goal of the season on the man-up off an assist from Justin Williams to put Tech ahead 1-0 with 12:56 left in the first. 
• Crusaders quickly answered with back-to-back goals in less than a minute to go up 2-1 with 11:48 to go in the quarter. 
• Collin Stewart’s fourth goal of the season evened the score at 2-2 with 7:44 remaining off an assist from Rozgonyi. 

SECOND QUARTER:

• Three straight tallies by the Panthers to open the second quarter handed Tech a 5-2 lead with 10:48 to go. Chandler Hake scored on a man-up off an assist from Stewart. Griffin Bowie got into the mix scoring an unassisted goal and then assisting Rozgonyi for his second goal of the day to put the Panthers up by three.
• Belmont Abbey responded with three consecutive scores to tie the game up at 5-5 with 2:32 remaining. 
• Jakob Terpak’s unassisted goal with 1:02 left in the half gave Tech a 6-5 advantage heading into halftime. 

THIRD QUARTER: 

• Crusaders’ Bailey Williams scored consecutive goals to open the second half and hand his team a 7-6 lead with 12:18 left.
• Rozgonyi tied the game on his third goal of the day off an assist from Gavin Wessel with 10:10 to go. 
• Stewart netted his second of the game off an assist from Nate Deplancke to give Tech an 8-7 lead with 8:13 remaining in the third.
• After Belmont Abbey tied the game with 7:10 to go, Rozgonyi scored his fourth of the game unassisted and then Ben Claffee tallied an unassisted man-up goal 33 seconds later to put Tech up 10-8 with 4:59 left in the quarter. 

FOURTH QUARTER:

• Bowie found the back of the net again just 1:02 into the fourth quarter to push the Panthers’ lead to 11-8. 
• Crusaders scored four unanswered to regain a one-goal lead, 12-11, with 2:28 to go. 
• Terpak came through in the clutch to tie the game at 12-12 with only 43 seconds left in regulation to force overtime. 

OVERTIME:

• Ethan Tosheff won the faceoff at the start of overtime to give Tech the opening possession. 
• With 3:12 left in the first overtime, Williams found Stewart for his third goal of the game to hand Florida Tech its first win of the season. 
   

NOTABLE PANTHERS:

• Zach Rozgonyi paced the Panthers with 5 points on 4 goals and 1 assist with 5 shots on goal
• For the second game in a row, Collin Stewart recorded 3 goals and 1 assist with 6 shots on goal, 1 ground ball and 1 caused turnover
• Griffin Bowie tallied 3 points on 2 goals and 1 assist with 3 shots on goal
• Jakob Terpak scored 2 goals
• Ben Claffee and Chandler Hake each scored a man-up goal
• Justin Williams dished out 2 assists 
• Josh Vetter collected 5 ground balls and 3 caused turnovers
• Sam Balch added 4 ground balls and 3 caused turnovers
• Ethan Tosheff won 9-21 faceoffs with a game-high 7 ground balls
• John Hulsman made 11 saves and had a .478 save percentage while facing 23 shots on goal.

INSIDE THE BOXSCORE:

• Panthers finished with an edge in shots (46-36) and ground balls (36-25), while committing less turnovers (15-19)
• Tech went 3-7 on man-up opportunities compared to 2-3 for Belmont Abbey
• Panthers were 24-26 on clears while the Crusaders were 22-24

BEYOND THE BOXSCORE:

• Panthers even the all-time series with Belmont Abbey to 2-2. It was Tech’s first win over the Crusaders on the road. 
• The win is Florida Tech’s first over a ranked opponent since a 17-16 comeback victory over No. 20 Rollins on March. 23, 2019. 
• Zach Wynne picks up his first career win as interim head coach.

UP NEXT: Florida Tech concludes its North Carolina trip on Monday, Feb. 14, against No. 8 Lenoir-Rhyne. The Panthers and Bears faceoff at 12 p.m. at Moretz Stadium in Hickory, N.C.

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.

*****

Panthers Fall Short Against No. 8 Bears

No. 8 Lenoir-Rhyne defeats Florida Tech 13-8 at Moretz Stadium

BOX SCORE

INSIDE THE MATCHUP
Final: Florida Tech 8, #8 Lenoir-Rhyne 13
Records: Florida Tech (1-2), Belmont Abbey (2-1)
Location: Moretz Stadium | Hickory, N.C.

FIRST QUARTER:

• Bears scored consecutive goals over a 46-second span to grab a 2-0 advantage with 7:12 to go in the first quarter. 
• Ben Claffee got the Panthers on the board with a man-up goal off an assist from Zach Rozgonyi with 5:20 left in the frame. 
• LR scored 3 goals over the final 4:15 of the quarter and lead 5-1 after the first quarter. 

SECOND QUARTER:

• Bennett Duffy scored his first of two goals on the day to cut the margin to 5-2 with 13:41 left in the second quarter.
• Bears increased their lead to 7-2 with 5:43 to go in the half. 
• Panthers answered with 3 goals by 3 different players over a 1:48 span. Claffee tallied his second of the game off an assist from Collin Stewart. Duffy then scored his second goal unassisted before Justin Williams found the back of the net off a feed from Claffee to trim Tech’s deficit to 7-5 with 1:57 remaining. 
• LR scored with 10 seconds left in the quarter and took an 8-5 advantage into halftime. 

THIRD QUARTER: 

• Rozgonyi got into the scoring mix early in the third quarter to bring the Panthers within one of LR, 8-7, with 13:22 to go in the quarter. Rozgonyi first scored unassisted as he placed a bouncer into the net on a drive down the middle. He added another 32 seconds later on an extra-man goal off an assist from Chandler Hake.
• Bears responded with 4 unanswered goals the rest of the third quarter to push their lead to 12-7 heading into the fourth. 

FOURTH QUARTER:

• Panthers leading scorer, Stewart, scored his lone goal of the day off an assist from Nate Deplancke with 10:26 to go in the fourth quarter. 
• Florida Tech had opportunities to cut farther into the deficit during the period but couldn’t break through the Bears defense led by Nate Johnson in goal who made 3 saves in the fourth. 
• LR tacked on one more goal with less than 3 minutes left to make the score 13-8 and push the game out of reach. 
   

NOTABLE PANTHERS:

• Zach Rozgonyi recorded 3 points on 2 goals and 1 assist with 2 shots on goal, 2 ground balls and one caused turnover.
• Ben Claffee tallied 3 points on 2 goals and 1 assist with 4 shots on goal.
• Bennett Duffy found the back of the net twice in the game with 4 shots on goal and a ground ball. 
• Collin Stewart added a goal and an assist with 3 shots on goal, 3 ground balls and 1 caused turnover.
• Justin Williams scored a goal and had 1 ground ball and 1 caused turnover.
• Nate Deplancke and Chandler Hake dished out one assist apiece. 
• Sam Balch collected 6 caused turnovers and 1 ground ball
• Ethan Tosheff won 9-18 faceoffs and Jack Maranto went 2-6
• John Hulsman made 12 saves and had a .480 save percentage while facing 25 shots on goal.

INSIDE THE BOXSCORE:

• Panthers finished with an edge in shots (40-35), while both teams finished with 27 ground balls, 18 turnovers and 12 caused turnovers.
• Tech and LR both went 2-6 on extra-man opportunities.
• Panthers were 14-19 on clears while Bears were 18-20.

BEYOND THE BOXSCORE:

• Panthers drop to 2-5 all-time against Lenoir-Rhyne and 1-3 in games played in Hickory, NC.

UP NEXT: Florida Tech is back in action Saturday, Feb. 19 hosting Flagler College. The first ever meeting between the teams is set to begin at 11:00 a.m. at Panther Field. 

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.