Junior Mary Watson came through with her second game-winner in three days on Monday, as her goal with 7:59 left propelled the Florida Tech Women’s Soccer team beat Palm Beach Atlantic 2-1, in a Sunshine State Conference contest.
Watson scored the game-winner in Saturday’s Senior Day game and came through again Monday in the Panthers final home game of the regular season.
Florida Tech (9-4-0, 4-4-0) found themselves down early when Kianna Magner got the ball out of the defensive end and found Morgan Campbell, who got away from the Panthers defense and beat Karlyn Prisco 9:54 into the game, putting the Sailfish up 1-0.
The Panthers had their chances following the visitors’ goal, but PBA goalie Isabelle Granlund was up to the task. Keira McCarthy and Taylor Eller had shots about two minutes apart (13th and 15thminute) that were saved by Granlund and Aubri Williamson got in on the act at the 20:35 mark, but she was turned away as well.
McCarthy got off another shot in the 25th minute, but she was denied by the post. Three minutes later, Watson’s first shot of the night went wide. McCarthy had two more shots that were saved and Williamson sent two shots wide, one of them just as the half came to an end.
When the horn sounded in the first half, the Panthers had been credited with 14 shots, with Granlund saving half of them and sending her team to the locker room with the lead. Palm Beach Atlantic finished the half with three shots against Prisco.
The Panthers offensive onslaught continued in the second half, as they fired 17 shots. They were finally rewarded when Ciera Misner jumped on a loose ball and fired it into the back of the net, tying the game at 1-1, with 13:57 left in the contest.
Elin Svensson took a corner kick minutes later and it bounced to Watson, who beat Granlund, giving the home team up 2-1.
Palm Beach Atlantic (4-5-1, 1-3-1) had one more great chance with 5:33 left in the game when Magner was awarded a free kick. Prisco made a dive and saved the victory for the home team. With that, Prisco improved her record to 9-4 overall on the season.
For more info: Palm Beach Atlantic @ Florida Tech Box Score
The Panthers will finish their season with three straight road games, starting in Tampa on Saturday. The game starts at 7:00 p.m.