photo via FIT web site   FIT Press Release   LAKELAND, Fla. (Women’s Lacrosse) – After a slow start to the contest, which saw Florida Tech fall behind 5-0 early into its semifinal matchup with No. 3 seed Rollins, the Panthers fought back and defeated the Tars 19-14 to advance to Sunday’s Sunshine State Conference Championship Game. Allie Modica led all players with six points, on five goals and one assist. Caroline Dunleavy recorded four goals and an assist, while Aleah Fjelstad and Sara Grenier contributed four and three goals, respectively. Mary Gormley dished out a game-high four assists. Modica and Sam Schiano picked up four draw controls, apiece, with Schiano adding two goals and an assist to her stat line. Haley Heggblod collected two ground balls to go along with a caused turnover. Stephanie Stuart made seven saves in the victory. The Panthers found themselves in a deep hole early, just 7:18 into the first half, as Rollins tallied five straight unassisted goals, three on free position shots. Modica stopped the bleeding with her first goal of the game. Her tally kicked off a 5-2 run by FIT that included five different goal scorers and cut the Crimson and Gray’s deficit to 7-5 with 13:21 left in the opening period. RC answered with consecutive goals by Hannah Ashton over a 51 second span that increased the Tars’ lead to 9-5. However, the Panthers would answer with five straight goals, by Fjelstad, Alexis Townsend, two by Modica and Grenier, to corral a 10-9 advantage just before halftime. The Tars regained the lead, 11-10, with consecutive goals by Paige Brock and Kallie German to open the second half. A pair of woman-down goals by Dunleavy and Modica gave FIT a 12-11 edge with 16:56 remaining. However, RC responded with consecutive tallies by Ashton and German over the ensuing 57 seconds to grab a 13-12 advantage. After Modica tied the game with 13:56 remaining, German struck again to hand the Tars a 14-13 lead. Schiano’s free position goal evened the game, again, at 14-14 with 9:20 left on the clock. The Panthers took control from there, scoring five unanswered goals over the final 8:44 to pull away from Rollins in the end. Florida Tech will now make its first ever appearance in the SSC Championship Game, taking on No. 1 seed Florida Southern this Sunday, Apr. 30, at 1 p.m. ET at Bryant Stadium in Lakeland, Florida. Fans can access live coverage of the action at FloridaTechSports.com.   =====   Rollins Press Release   LAKELAND, Fla.  (April 28, 2017) – Freshman midfielder Hannah Ashton scored a season high five goals to lead the Tars as the third-seeded Rollins women’s lacrosse team fell in a hard-fought contest to second-seeded Florida Tech by a final score of 19-14 on Friday evening in the Sunshine State Conference Tournament Semifinals.  The Tars’ back-and-forth battle against the Panthers at Bryant Stadium in Lakeland, Fla. marks their second-straight loss to FIT, dropping their overall record to 12-5 on the season, while the Panthers advance to 13-2 overall. Behind Ashton’s team-leading five goals, Kallie German earned five points with four goals and one assist.  Paige Brock netted a hat trick, while Megan Cury and Brittany Eveler each scored once.  Maggie Dougherty led the team in assists with two, followed by Cury, German, Kaitlin Prince, and Elle Ueland with one each.  Haley Brock and Lily Rizk led the team in ground balls with three each, while Dougherty P. Brock, and Hannah Coakley led the team in draw controls with three apiece.  Four different Tars caused one turnover each on the evening.  In goal, the Tars saw freshman Sarah Neely earn the start in cage, earning five saves while allowing 10 goals.  Junior Malorie Olin closed out the contest in the second half, earning nine saves while allowing nine goals. The Panthers were led by Allie Modica with a team best five goals while adding one assist for six points on the night.  Caroline Dunleavy and Aleah Fjelstad each scored four goals, while Sara Grenier tallied three.  Sam Schiano and Alexis Townsend contributed two and one, respectively.  Mary Gormley led the team in assists with four, followed by Townsend with two, and Dunleavy, Modica, and Schiano with one each.  Gormley, Dunleavy, and Haley Heggblod picked up a team best two ground balls apiece, while Modica and Schiano led the team in draw controls with four each.  Six different Panthers earned one caused turnover on the night.  In goal, Stephanie Stuart played a full 60 minutes, earning seven saves while allowing 14 goals. HIGHLIGHTS AND HALF ANALYSIS First Half l Ashton opened up the game with two straight within 26 seconds of each other to give Rollins an early 2-0 lead with 27:25 on the clock.  Cury, German, and P. Brock followed quickly behind with unassisted goals of their own, and at the 22:42 mark the Tars held onto a 5-0 advantage.  Modica broke the run with a goal assisted by Gormley with 19:23 on the clock, but Eveler answered back to extend the Tars’ advantage back to five, 6-1, with 18:29 to go in the half.  The Panthers rattled off three straight to pull to within two, 6-4, at the 14:49 mark, but P. Brock netted her second of the game at the 13:52 mark thanks to an assist by Dougherty to give the Tars a 7-4 lead.  Florida Tech answered back, but the Tars rattled off two more to pull ahead to a 9-5 advantage with 12:04 left in the half.  Fjelstad notched an unassisted goal at the 9:17 mark, igniting a five goal run by the Panthers to close out the half with a 10-9 lead. Second Half l  The second stanza saw plenty of back-and-forth action.  Rollins opened the second half with a goal by P. Brock off of an assist by Cury at the 27:18 mark, followed by an unassisted goal by German with 23:47 to go to give the Tars an 11-10 lead.  But the Panthers scored on a man-down situation to tie the game with 22:31 on the clock to tie the game at 11-11.  The Panthers then took the lead with a goal by Modica off of an assist by Dunleavy, but German connected a pass to Ashton to knot the score at 12-12 with 16:42 left in the half.  German then gave Rollins the 13-12 lead at the 15:59 mark on a free-position shot, but Flroida Tech answered back to even the tally at 13-13 with 13:56 on the board.  German once again gave the Tars the edge, placing a shot between the pipes with 12:11 to go to give the Tars the 14-13 edge.  However, the Panthers once again pulled even as Schiano converted a free position shot at the 9:20 mark to even the score at 14-14. The Panthers then gained the lead at the 8:44 mark off of a goal by Dunleavy, and in the waning minutes, FIT took advantage of open goal opportunities as Rollins pulled Olin onto the field for full woman-to-woman coverage, netting four straight in the final three minutes to extend their lead to 19-14 to close out the game.  GAME NOTES

• Rollins has now squared up against its eighth nationally-ranked opponent this season.
• Rollins leads the all-time series against the Panthers, 3-2.
• The Tars and Panthers squared off in the Sunshine State Conference Tournament Semifinals for the second straight season.
• This marks the first year in the Sunshine State Conference’s three-year history that the Tars have not advanced to the Tournament Championship game. 

NEXT UP FOR THE TARS Rollins now awaits the NCAA Selection Show to see if they will earn a bid to play in the South Region Tournament.  This year’s selection show is set to get under way at 8 p.m. on Sunday, May 7.  Fans will be able to access the selection show with THIS LINK.  More information will be posted on RollinsSports.com in the coming days. For the latest news, updates, and information on the Rollins women’s lacrosse team, fans can visit RollinsSports.com.  Fans can also stay up-to-date on the latest #TARnation news by following Rollins Sports on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.