The 18th-ranked Florida Tech Panthers men’s lacrosse team won their fourth straight game on Saturday, beating the Rollins College Tars 14-12 at Barker Family Stadium. The loss snapped a four-game winning streak for the Tars and was the second straight conference win for the FIT.
Tajee Mobley had five goals in this one, leading all scorers. Reid Chaconas added a hat-trick, while Logan Sweeney and Carson Clough had two each. Joey Cinque had a hat-trick for Rollins.
Cincue got things started 1:06 in and his goal was answered by Luke Palmisano. Mobley and Clough scored to make it 3-1, with 7:02 left in the first. Greg Taicher scored on the man-up for the Tars and Florida Tech got that back when Rollins was called for unnecessary roughness with 2:16 to go in the quarter. Clough made them pay, ripping a shot past Rollins netminder Andrew Hoemann with 1:59 left.
Mobley found himself open from about 10 yards out with 1:08 left and he netted his second of the day, giving the Panthers a 5-2 lead.
The second quarter started with Flock making a save 52 seconds in and the Panthers got back quickly in transition and Mobley had his hat-trick. It was 6-2 with 13:56 left. Rollins got a chance on the man-up after Addison Abramson was called for an illegal body check. Rollins ran their offense and got a good look, but the ball banged off the post. Despite the celebrating being done by a couple players, it was not a goal.
Taicher would get one that would count with 7:02 left, throwing one past Panthers goalie Daniel Flock at his feet, making it 6-3. Hoemann made a couple nice saves on consecutive possessions, including one on Mason Ostrowski, with 4:28 left in the half.
Rollins (4-4, 1-1 SSC) closed the half with three straight goals, with the final one coming off the stick of Lucas Brush. It was a questionable goal to say the least, as the horn sounded before the shot, but when the clock stopped there were 0.2 seconds left on it.
The call of a goal was correct, but the person working the horn jumped the gun a bit and you have to wonder if hearing that horn caused Flock to let his guard down just enough to allow the goal. Whether that was the case or not, the game was tied 6-6 at the half.
The Tars outscored the Panthers 4-1 in that second quarter and had the momentum going into the third, especially considering they scored with 48.8 seconds left and 0.2.
They used that momentum to score a man-up goal with 13:25 left, on a nice shot by Eric NeCamp. That gave the Tars their first lead since it was 1-0. Cinque would score again just over two minutes later, putting the home team up 8-6.
Goals by Chaconas and Mobley 4:10 apart tied the game up once again, before Brandon Carlin found an open lane and came streaking in on Flock, making it a 9-8 game. Mobley’s fifth goal of the day tied it at nine with 58.3 left in the third but Rollins came right back with Jackson Colling scoring with 23.9 left on the clock.
With the score 10-9 heading into the fourth, the Panthers seized the momentum that the Tars had at the end of the half. Sweeney scored consecutive goals to start the quarter, the second being a man-up goal to make it 11-10 Panthers, with 13:15 left.
Chaconas would score on the man-up moments later, extending the Panthers lead to 12-10. It took a while, but Cincue closed the gap to one with 5:52 to go, only to see Chaconas and Ostrowski answer, giving the Panthers a three-goal cushion with 1:05 to go.
After Lance Pavlina was called for delay of game on the next faceoff, Colling scored with one second left in the man-up, accounting for the final goal of the day.
For more info: Florida Tech @ Rollins Box Score
Each team took 29 shots in the game. Flock was credited with six saves and was very good on his stick side all day. Hoemann had seven saves in the loss.
The Panthers overcame 20 turnovers and were 14-of-19 on clears. Both teams had 32 ground balls and the Panthers won 19 of 29 faceoffs.
Florida Tech (5-4, 2-0 SSC) return home on Wednesday for another Sunshine State Conference game against the Lynn Fighting Knights. Opening faceoff is scheduled for 4:00 p.m.