Photo: Alexis Townsend – Credit: Florida Tech Athletics
Playing in her final game as a Florida Tech Panther on Wednesday, Alexis Townsend scored a milestone goal getting number 100 for her career in the second half of a 19-6 home loss to Florida Southern.
Townsend came into the game with 97 and her team and coaches were well aware of what she needed to go there. She even tacked one more on for good measure as she finished off a four-goal night scoring three of the Panthers’ final four goals.
The other two Florida Tech goals on Wednesday came from Mollie Kaplan who hit the century mark in career goals back on April 14.
Emily Harris started in goal for the Panthers while Patricia Werker got the start for the visiting Moccasins. Harris had eight saves for the Panthers, while Werker had three saves for the Mocs’ in 45:19. Brittany Iamele finished the game for FSC, allowing one goal.
Hailey Daleo led Florida Southern with seven goals and an assist. The Mocs had four goals each from Lizzy Lynch and Maliah Benedetto. Marina Jozokos had three goals and four assists.
Jozokos got the scoring started as FSC scored the first seven goals of the game, with three coming from Daleo.
Townsend got the Panthers on the board with her first of the night with 15:19 to go in the first half. The Mocs would then go on a five-goal run with Lynch and Benedetto scoring four of those. Benedetto’s second goal in that run triggered the running clock, as it was an 11-1 game.
Lynch would make it 12-1 before Kaplan scored to close the gap to 12-2 with 3:44 to go in the half. Just 58 seconds later the game was stalled by a lightning delay and the teams were forced to sit for an hour and 15 minutes.
After the delay, Jozokos scored with 2:12 to put Florida Southern up 13-2. With the lightning delay, the teams returned after a two-minute halftime.
It took just 36 seconds for Daleo to score her fifth of the night and make it 14-2. Townsend then got her second of the game, assisted by Caroline MacLeod with 26:51 left to make it 14-3.
The 100th goal of her career would come moments later when Fallon Mears found her with 23 minutes to go. Townsend wasn’t done, as she found the back of the net 3:01 later on a feed from Rachel Johnson for her fourth of the night and 101st of her career.
Daleo’s sixth of the night sparked another five-goal run for Florida Southern, who ran their record to 8-1 with the victory.
Kaplan got the final goal of her Panther career, number 107 overall with 1:56 left, to make it 19-6.
For more info: Florida Southern @ Florida Tech Box Score
Florida Southern put 27 of their 34 shots on goal, while Florida Tech had 13 shots with nine on goal. Florida Tech had 14 turnovers with 10 for the Mocs’. The visitors were nine of 10 on clears, while the Panthers were seven for 14. Each team had 15 ground balls, and Florida Southern won 18 of 27 draw controls.
Florida Tech finished the season at 2-7, but there is a lot to build on and they are poised for a much-improved season in 2022.