The 24th-ranked Florida Tech women’s lacrosse team used an eight-goal second half run on Monday, to beat Slippery Rock 16-11 in a Division II match at Florida Tech Panther Stadium.
Leah Dunn continued to have the hot hand for Florida Tech, scoring five goals and assisting on two others. It was her second straight game with seven points, as she had three goals and four assists in a win over Edinboro on Friday.
Sam Schiano was not far behind, scoring a hat trick and assisting on three more for a six-point night. Alexis Townsend had a hat trick as well, to go along with one assist.
The Panthers (5-3) got off to a fast start in this one, with Mollie Kaplan scoring the first two goals of the night. Goals by Dunn and Townsend followed, giving the Panthers a 4-0 lead 8:31 into the game. Back-to-back goals by SRU cut the lead in half, but the Panthers bounced back with goals from Schiano and Townsend, restoring the Panthers four-goal lead.
After ShyAnne Toomer made it 6-3, Dunn answered to make it 7-3. To Slippery Rock’s credit, they put a run together, scoring four unanswered goals against Panthers goaltender Chloe Zador. Just like that, the game was tied at seven, with 3:12 to go in the first half.
Lexi Woviotis gave the Panthers an 8-7 lead with 1:02 left, but Slippery Rock got a free-position shot with 3.6 seconds left, out of the stick of Tori Penders was saved by Zador, but the rebound came back to her and she ripped it into the net, just as the clock expired. There was some discussion amongst the officials, but the goal stood and the game was 8-8 at the half.
SLU (1-1) used that momentum to start the second half, with Kelsey Thoensen scoring 52 seconds into the half, giving Slippery Rock their first lead of the night, at 9-8. Emily Benham made it 10-8 about seven minutes later.
Dunn brought the Panthers back, scoring three of the next four goals and gave the Panthers a 12-10 lead. The goal in between was scored by Kailee O’Brien. Schiano followed with back-to-back goals less than a minute apart. Townsend and Woviotis made it 16-10. The Woviotis goal came with two seconds remaining on the shot clock and 4:56 left on the game clock, capping an 8-0 run by the Panthers.
Sami Gentzler got the final goal of the night for Slippery Rock, but they weren’t able to find their way past Zador again in the final 4:34.
For more info: Slippery Rock @ Florida Tech Box Score
Shots were 26-22 in favor of the Panthers with 23 of those registering on goal. Zador made five saves.
Turnovers were even at 23 and draw controls were even at 14. The Panthers held a 25-15 advantage in ground balls.
Florida Tech has now won three in a row and they will now set their sights on Saturday’s showdown with Sunshine State Conference foe, Florida Southern, who has been a constant thorn in the side of the Panthers over the last few years. Opening faceoff is set for 1:00 p.m. in Lakeland.