
FIT Men: Panthers Fall to Mocs in SSC Opener 12-5
Written by Lee Roggenburg on . Posted in Uncategorized.
via press release – photo by Matt Starkey
LAKELAND, Fla. (Men’s Lacrosse) – Florida Tech’s (5-4) run in the Sunshine State Conference got off to a rough start Saturday, as Florida Southern (8-5) limited the Panthers to their lowest output of the season in a 12-5 loss at Bryant Stadium in Lakeland.
A 7-0 second quarter run by the Moccasins turned out to be the difference in the game as they built a 8-1 halftime lead and cruised to the victory in both teams’ SSC opener.
Cody Martin paced FIT with two goals in the loss, and Brian Bacarella, Austen Zugelter and Logan Sweeney tallied one goal apiece. Tyler Covey dished out two assists against the Mocs.
Addison Abramson and Riley Ford each collected a team-high three ground balls, while Tom Filipow had one ground ball and accounted for two of the Panthers’ eight caused turnovers.
It took just 47 seconds for the Mocs to get on the board, as they picked up the opening faceoff and scored the first goal on Lucas Claude’s drive down the right alley. Sweeney then scored to tie the game at 1-1 with 6:55 remaining in the first quarter.
Kyle Silverstein’s score at the 13:24 mark of the second quarter handed the Mocs back the lead, 2-1. From there, FSC would score the next six goals of the half to take an 8-1 advantage into the break.
Bacarella’s goal at the 9:39 mark of the third ended a 27-minute drought by the Panthers to bring the score to 8-2. After Claude fed Cody Dyer for the Mocs’ ninth goal of the game, Zugelter cut the deficit back to six with 1:33 left in the quarter.
It looked as though Florida Tech was making a late run when Covey and Martin connected on consecutive goals to decrease the Mocs’ lead to four with 6:40 remaining, however it never materialized for the Panthers, as FSC went on to seal the victory by scoring the final three goals of the game.
Florida Southern recorded more shots (41-28), ground balls (30-21) and faceoffs (12-8) while FIT caused more turnovers (8-7).
Claude led all players with six points on three goals and three assists to go along with a game-high five ground balls. Tyler Kopen and Nick Gutmann scored four and two goals, respectively, while Liam Winwood dished out three assists in the game. Long stick midfielder Austen Lison finished with four ground balls and a game-high three caused turnovers.
Joseph Biondi, Jr. controlled the faceoff dot for Florida Southern, winning 12-of-20 attempts and picking up four ground balls. Travis Wunder and Ryan Land won four draws apiece for the Crimson and Gray.
In between the pipes, Christian Koch (3-4) made eight saves while facing 20 shots in the loss. His counterpart, Matt Lalli, also made eight saves as he improved to 8-5 on the year.
Florida Tech makes it return to Florida Tech Panther Stadium next Friday, April 1 for its SSC home opener against Saint Leo at 7 p.m. ET. Fans can access live coverage of Panther home games at FloridaTechSports.com/live.
Box Score:
http://www.floridatechsports.com/mlacrosse/boxscore/2015-16/5416/florida-tech-vs-florida-southern-03-26-2016/
2016 Schedule: http://www.floridatechsports.com/mlacrosse/schedule/
2016 Roster: http://www.floridatechsports.com/mlacrosse/roster/
Daniel Supraner
Assistant Director of Athletic Communications
Florida Tech Athletics
150 W. University Blvd.
Melbourne, Fla. 32901
Work: 321-674-7484
Fax: 321-984-8529