Women: #9 Florida Tech Overwhelms Saint Leo 22-7 – Both Press Releases
Written by Lee Roggenburg on . Posted in Uncategorized.
photo via FIT web site
FIT Press Release
MELBOURNE, Fla. (Women’s Lacrosse) – Sara Grenier and Allie Modica scored six goals apiece and No. 9 Florida Tech (10-2, 1-1 SSC) cruised to its first Sunshine State Conference win of the season Tuesday night, running over Saint Leo (6-9, 0-3 SSC) 22-7 at Panther Stadium.
Modica added two assists to her goal total to finish with a season-high eight points. The Vero Beach product also collected three ground balls and a school record 11 draw controls in the victory. Grenier, who was tabbed the SSC Offensive Player of the Week on Monday, dished out an assist as well to end with seven points for the second time in as many games.
Mary Gormley notched a season-high five points on two goals and three assists, to go along with a game-high six ground balls. Sam Schiano recorded a hat trick, two ground balls, two caused turnovers and a draw control. Leah Dunn and Aleah Fjelstad contributed three points apiece. Lauren Tybor added a game-high five caused turnovers, three ground balls and two draw controls. Stephanie Stuart improved to 10-2 on the year while making three saves in goal.
Florida Tech finished with more ground balls, 31-14, draw controls, 18-11, and went an impressive 18-of-19 on their clear attempts. The FIT defense suffocated the Lions’ offense all game long, forcing 24 turnovers while only allowing their opponent to 12 total shots. The Panthers ended with 45 shots in the game.
Grenier opened the scoring with an unassisted effort just 2:17 into the game, then Modica made it 2-0 on a man-up goal off an assist from Gormley. Bailee Hurd put Saint Leo on the board with 25:27 left in the first half.
FIT answered the Lions’ tally with a 5-1 run, increasing its lead to 7-2 with 11:02 remaining. SLU scored two of the next three goals, both off the stick of Kelsey Burns, to cut the margin to 8-4. However, consecutive tallies by Modica gave the Panthers a 10-4 advantage at the break.
Florida Tech continued the onslaught in the second half with Grenier and Caroline Dunleavy tallying unassisted goals to push FIT’s lead to 12-4 with 26:06 remaining in the half. Kaylah Walstad temporarily ceased the bleeding with her second goal of the game. The Panthers responded with a goal by Grenier less than two minutes later to increase the margin to 13-5, before Burns tallied her third of the game to make it a seven-goal deficit.
However, it was all Florida Tech the rest of the way, as the Crimson and Gray tallied nine of the final 10 goals over the remaining 21:50 of game time to earn the 15-point win. The result is the largest margin of victory over a league opponent in program history. It also marks the fourth time this season that the Panthers have scored at least 20 goals in a game.
Florida Tech will look to continue its momentum its final home game of the season on Saturday, Apr. 15, against SSC foe Tampa at 7 p.m. ET. Saturday’s contest is Senior Night for FIT with three Panthers being honored prior to their last regular season game at Panther Stadium. Fans can access live coverage of the action at FloridaTechSports.com/live.
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Saint Leo Press Release
MELBOURNE, Fla. – The Saint Leo women’s lacrosse team fell to the 9th–ranked Florida Panthers, 22-7, on Tuesday evening in a Sunshine State Conference match-up in Melbourne, Fla.
Kelsey Burns recorded her second-straight hat trick as she recorded three goals in the loss to the Panthers, while Kaylah Walstad added two tallied. However, 24 turnovers would haunt the Lions as the Panthers were able to capitalize. Freshman Erin Davis finished with a career-high nine saves in the cage.
The Basics
Saint Leo falls to No. 9 Florida Tech, 22-7
Location: Panther Stadium | Melbourne, Fla.
Records: Saint Leo 6-9, 0-3 SSC | No. 9 Florida Tech 10-2, 1-1 SSC
How it happened
1H | The Panthers opened things up with back-to-back scores in the first five minutes of action, but freshman Bailey Hurd recorded her second career goal off a Katherine Larson pass to bring it back within one. Florida Tech tacked on two more before Kaylah Walstad would put in a free position shot in the back of the net. Three more Panther shots would find the cage before for Kelsey Burns would snag her first goal of the game. Just nine seconds following, Florida Tech added another score. Burns would add her second of the game in under a minute of action, making it 8-4. However, the Panthers would tack on the final two goals of the period. Freshman Erin Davis finished the half with eight saves. | FIT 10-4
2H | Florida Southern opened the period with two goals before Walstad was able to find the net for her second score of the game. The Panthers added another, making it 13-5 before Burns was able to net another for the hat trick. Another three Panther goals would find the cage before Abbie Ross would tally a free position shot. The home squad would tack on six goals to close the half. The Lions went 2-3 on second half FPS, and both teams won seven draws. | FIT 22-7
Points to Note
- Freshman Erin Davis recorded a career-high nine saves, adding one ground ball.
- Kelsey Burns finished with three goals, four draws, two ground balls, and one caused turnover.
- Kaylah Walstad added two goals with one ground ball and one draw.
- Saint Leo was out-shot 45-12.
