The Florida Tech men’s lacrosse team picked up its second win in as many games Saturday, beating a previously undefeated Young Harris team 13-9. The Panthers had an eye-popping sixty shots in this one, with 27 of those on goal.
“This was a team win today, said Panthers head coach Mark Penn, via e-mail. “The guys came out focused and started fast. We showed more maturity today, but we still need to put together four quarters of good lacrosse.”
Brad Schillinger scored four goals to lead the Panthers offense. Reid Chaconas netted a hat-trick, while Brennan Banks added two and Logan Sweeney had one, to go along with three assists. Tommy Bowser did not get in the goal column, but he was a big contributor with four helpers.
Young Harris goalie Mason King was under fire all day. He made 14 saves for the Mountain Lions, while Daniel Flock made stopped 11 of the 20 shots he saw.
Chaconas got the Panthers on the board 2:55 into the game with a nice goal and moments later Young Harris turned it over deep in their defensive end and Brett Pohlmeyer was one-on-one with King and ripped it by him to make it 2-0. That was one of 10 turnovers by Young Harris in the quarter and it proved costly.
The Mountain Lions (3-1) got on the board when Bevan Pate scored his first of two on the day, cutting it to 2-1. Schillinger answered just 13 seconds later and put the Panthers up 3-1. He would score again with 4:37 remaining in the quarter and it was 4-1. A goal by Addison Abramson made it 5-1 Panthers and that was the Panthers advantage after one quarter.
Flock was called into action early in the second when he made a save and watched as his defense turned it over right in front and he was up to the task again, turning away the Mountain Lions.
Brennan Banks tallied his first of the season for the Panthers, putting them up 6-1 with 12:25 to go. Schillinger followed with his hat-trick goal 1:07 later, making it 7-1. Banks would strike again moments later, to give the Panthers an 8-1 lead.
A three-goal run by Young Harris made it 8-4 and they looked to have the momentum going their way, but Luke Palmisano put the brakes on that when he scored with 13 seconds remaining in the half.
The Panthers got goals from Sweeney and Chaconas in the third quarter, but the Mountain Lions tallied three times, making it an 11-7 game heading into the final stanza.
A goal by Beau Henson cut the Panthers lead to three with 10:28 to go, but Schillinger came up big for the fourth time, scoring just 14 seconds after the Henson goal, giving the Panthers a 12-8 lead. Chaconas would get his hat-trick with 1:00 remaining to cap the scoring for the Panthers.
Bruce Silk would cut the Panthers lead to 13-9, scoring with 17 seconds left. The Panthers were able to run it out from there.
For more info: Florida Tech @ Young Harris Box Score
Florida Tech was 16-of-20 on clears and won the faceoff battle 18-8. They did come up empty on six extra-man opportunities.
The Panthers are now 2-0 on the young season and they will play their home-opener on Saturday, at 11:00 a.m.
“We are looking forward to playing in the backyard this week, opening our home schedule and facing another tough opponent,” Penn said. “All we can do is grow this week and try to focus on one game at a time. Being 2-0, it’s a great start, but it’s a long season and right now we are all just thankful to be Florida Tech Panthers and to have another week of lacrosse ahead of us.”