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FIT Men: Panthers Overpower Railsplitters in Season Opener

Written by Lee Roggenburg on . Posted in .
via press release – photo via FIT web site  
MELBOURNE, Fla. (Men’s Lacrosse) – Playing on its new home, Panther Field at the Olin Athletic Complex, Florida Tech put on a show for fans and started the season in impressive fashion by routing the Lincoln Memorial Railsplitters by a score of 20-6 Saturday. Nick Wynne made his long awaited return to the field for the Panthers and had an immediate impact, leading the team in goals (5), assists (3) and points (8). Logan Sweeney chipped in a hat trick, Matt Weinstein scored a pair of goals and Carson Clough dished out three assists in his debut. In total, 13 different Panthers scored goals in the victory. Defensively, Nate Menninger led the team in ground balls with eight while adding two caused turnovers. Clough got into the action with six ground balls and one caused turnover while Charlie Morrisette and Grant Hughes collected three caused turnovers apiece. Wynne got the scoring started with an unassisted tally at the 10:35 mark of the first quarter. He doubled the score ten seconds later, and after Weinstein pushed the score to 3-0, Wynne completed his first quarter hat trick off a feed from Clough with 37 seconds left in the first. Long stick midfielder Addison Abramson also found the back of the net near the end of the opening period to bring the score to 5-0 at the end of the one. Lincoln Memorial woke up in the second quarter outscoring FIT 3-2 on goals by Adam Golia, Jared Courchene and Hunter Clark. Charlie Morrisette had a hand in both of the Panthers’ goals, sending out assists to both Cody Martin and Logan Sweeney on the man-up and Florida Tech took a 7-3 advantage into the half. Five different Panthers helped Florida Tech outscore LMU 5-0 in the third as the lead expanded to 12-3. It looked like the Railsplitters were in for a big fourth quarter as they put in the first two goals on unassisted efforts by Golia and Kopsky. However, the Panthers quickly answered on their ensuing possession with a goal by Brad Schillinger. FIT’s lead ballooned from there as it outscored LMU 7-1 the rest of the way to cruise to the season opening victory. The Panthers return to action next Thursday, Feb. 16 against Adelphi at the Olin Athletic Complex. Opening face off is set for 3 p.m. ET.