via both school’s press releases/websites

BOX SCORE

No. 9 Saints Take Down Panthers in Home Opener

ST AUGUSTINE. – Jessica Wright lead No. 9 (IWLCA Division II Top 25) Flagler College to a 12-9 victory scoring six goals and adding one assist in its season and home opener against the Florida Tech Saturday night at the Flagler Lacrosse Field.
 
The Saints started out strong scoring five goals from the start before the Panthers answered back with a goal from Karly Liebendorfer. The Saint kept their lead ending the first quarter 7-1.
 
The Panthers began to close the gap in the second quarter scoring four more times to cut the Saints lead to 9-5.
 
Flagler and Florida Tech went back and forth throughout the last half, however the Saints came out on top 12-9.
 
Although they were outscored in the end, Panthers goalie Cailey Canessa had a great game with 14 saves.
 
Saints goalie Lauren Ribadeneira helped the Saints with seven saves tonight.
 
The Saints will return on Feb. 9 at 3 p.m. in their game at Palm Beach Atlantic University.

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Women’s Lacrosse Fought the Good Fight Against No.9 Flagler

by Alex Henderson

Melbourne, Fla. – Florida Tech women’s lacrosse traveled to St. Augustine to start its 2024 campaign against the No.9 Flagler Saints.  The Panthers got out to a slow start, falling behind 7-2 after 15:00 minutes of play, despite outscoring the Saints 8-5 in the remaining three-quarters of the contest The Panthers came up short against the Saints 12-9.

INSIDE THE MATCHUP:
Final: Florida Tech 9, No.9 Flagler 12
Records: Florida Tech (0-1, 0-0 SSC), Flagler (1-0, 0-0 GSC)
Locations: Saints Field | St. Augustine, Fla.  

FIRST QUARTER:

• The Saints started the game by scoring 50 seconds into the contest before recording four more unanswered goals over the course of the next 8 minutes to take the 5-0 lead highlighted by two goals from Jessica Wright.
• Karly Liebendorfer was the first Panther to score in the 2024 season recording a woman-up goal of an assist from Kayla Minton.
• The final two goals of the first would be scored by Flagler to extend their lead 7-1 to end the first.

SECOND QUARTER:

• Liebendorfer stuck again for Tech recording her second goal of the game on a woman-up free position goal against the Saints.
• Lexie Morton of Flagler would score just over a minute later a woman-up goal.
• Shortly after with 7:34 to play in the quarter, Morton would assist Wright for Flagler’s second goal of the period to go ahead 9-2.
• Michaela Wittman recorded the first goal of her collegiate career with 6:30 to play before half off an assist from Minton.
• Wittman’s goal would go on to spark three straight goals with Minton scoring her second goal of the contest off a free position goal followed by sophomore Sophia Scichilone recording her first goal of the year to make it a 9-5 Flagler lead entering the half.

THIRD QUARTER:

• Both teams spent the first seven minutes after the half scoreless before Wright recorded her fifth goal of the contest with 6:28 to play in the quarter.
• At the 3:01 mark, junior midfielder Charlotte Hardie recorded her first goal of the season on a woman-up free position goal.
• With 20 seconds to go before the fourth quarter, Flagler found the back of the net again with Wright’s sixth goal of the game on a woman-up free position goal.
• Heading into the fourth quarter, the Panthers trailed the Saints 11-6.

FOURTH QUARTER:

• Minton managed to score first 1:16 into the fourth quarter to cut Flagler’s lead to four, 11-7.
• Freshman defender Brianna Ellis was the second Panther to record her first collegiate goal in her first collegiate game four minutes into the quarter on a woman-up goal to make it 11-8.
• Scichilone’s second goal on the game came with 8:33 to go in the quarter to trim the Panthers deficit having come back from trailing 7-2 in the first quarter.
• Both teams went cold for nearly eight minutes before Tristan Usher of Flagler scored with 43 seconds to play, securing Flagler’s victory 12-9.

NOTABLE PANTHERS:

• Kayla Minton finished with the most points for the Panthers recording four points from two goals and two assists.
• Cailey Canessa recorded 14 saves and three ground balls having spent 60 minutes in net.
• Karly Liebendorfer and Sophia Scichilone each tallied two goals for Tech.
• Carly Niro led Tech with three draw-control wins.

BEYOND THE BOXSCORE

• Florida Tech is now 1-2 all-time against Flagler and 1-1 at Saints Field.
• Tech moves to .500 at 5-5 in season-opening games and 6-4 in road openers.
• Canessa’s 14 saves and three ground balls were both career-highs for the Goalie finishing the night with a total of .538 save percentage.

UP NEXT: Florida Tech will be back in action Tuesday, Feb. 7 on the road at Palm Beach Atlantic for a non-conference matchup against the Sailfish with the opening draw set for 7:00 P.M. 

For the latest news, updates, and information on the Florida Tech women’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.