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Panthers Beat Tampa in SSC Showdown

Sara Grenier – Photo credit: James Ragan Photography

 

The fifth-ranked Florida Tech Panthers went on the road to Tampa Wednesday and came away with a 22-13 win over the 16th-ranked Spartans.

Sara Grenier and Mollie Kaplan tallied five times for the Panthers, while Leah Dunn (4), Sam Schiano (3), Mary Gormley, (2) Lauren Tybor (2), and Alexis Townsend all contributed to the scoring barrage.

The Panthers took 40 shots, with 35 on goal, against Spartans goalie Bridget Sutter. Panthers starter Stephanie Stuart and backup Chloe Zador combined to make three saves. The Spartans put 16 of their 20 shots on goal.

With 27:54 to go in the game, the Panthers held a slim 11-10 lead before they went on an 8-1 run, putting the game out of reach and pushing Florida Tech to their 11th win of the season.

The game started pretty even, before Grenier started a three-goal run with 18:56 left in the first half. Dunn and Gormley scored 12 seconds apart, to make it 5-3 Panthers. The three goals had just a 36-second gap between them.

Kaplan, Dunn, and Grenier went on another run, making 8-4 with 10:44 to go in the half. Caroline Forester had a goal waved off and was instead called for a penalty with 9:15 to go in the half. Carly Vaccaro, who scored four goals to lead Tampa, got a man-down goal with 8:21 to go, making it 8-5.

Dunn scored her hat-trick goal moments later to make it 9-5, and Vaccaro answered with her hat trick 52 seconds later, only to see Grenier’s hat trick goal with 6:06 to go, stretch the Panthers lead to 10-6. Florida Tech would lead at the half, 11-8, with Grenier finding the back of the net with 5:07 to go.

Tampa (9-5, 1-2 SSC) would get goals from Forester and Rachel Crawford (man-up) to start the second half and all of a sudden, it was an 11-10 game.

Kaplan would get the lead back to three with goals 1:35 apart. The second of those goals gave her a hat trick with 23:25 to go. Crawford would score eight seconds later, making it 13-11 but that was as close as the Spartans would get, as Florida Tech’s offense kicked it into high-gear.

Schiano would score back-to-back goals giving her a hat trick and Grenier would score her fifth of the contest, giving the visitors a 16-11 lead with 15:02 left. Townsend got in on the act with Grenier and Kaplan to make it a 19-11 game.

Gormley, Dunn, and Tybor would get the final goals of the game for the Panthers. Tybor scored the first and last goals of the day for Florida Tech.

For more info: Florida Tech @ Tampa Box Score

Florida Tech returns home Saturday to take on the Rollins College Tars in another Sunshine State Conference matchup. The opening draw is set for noon.