SAINT LEO, Fla. (Women's Soccer)- Florida Tech (5-2-1, SSC 2-1) conquered its first SSC victory on the road, rolling past the Saint Leo Lions (2-4, SSC 1-3) with an impressive 4-2 victory on Saturday night at University Soccer Field. Two days after FIT suffered a heartbreaking loss to No. 20 Nova Southeastern, the Panthers rebounded back with an outstanding performance. Florida Tech outshot the Lions 7-4 in the first half and collected two saves.

Sophomore midfielder Maria Munoz clutched two goals to give her a team-high six goals, earning the first spot in SSC for points (15). The Weston-native dominates the SSC leaderboard, as she also ranks first in points per game (1.88), game-winning goals (3) and second for goals (6). Junior forward Keira McCarthy earned her third goal for the 2017 season. Within the SSC leaderboard, McCarthy ranks fourth for assists (3) with an assist average of .375. Junior midfielder Kelley Johnson tallied her first seasonal goal and bumped her total shots to three.

In front of an audience of 109 spectators, the Panthers wasted little time attacking the Lions, as sophomore defender Kiana Zanganeh fed the ball from the right side of the field through the middle to Munoz, who shot to the upper side of the net and scored her fifth goal of the season to put FIT up 1-0.

Florida Tech continued its aggressive attack on goal, and with 4 minutes left to play in the first half, McCarthy was assisted by Munoz on a shot that came from 18 yards outside the box to overlap Saint Leo 2-0.

Entering the second period leading by two, Florida Tech reached the board once again, but this time within six minutes into action. Maria Munoz dribbled through the Lions defense for a shot that was sent into the left bottom corner of the net.

With an overwhelming 3-0 deficit, the Lions responded 18 minutes later to reduce the FIT stretch, 3-1. Saint Leo kept pressuring the Panthers defense, and eventually clinched another goal at the 78-minute mark to decrease the Panthers lead, 3-2.

With 12 minutes left to play, Florida Tech answered rather quickly, as junior midfielder Kelley Johnson chipped the ball into the goal over the Saint Leo goalkeeper, to put the Panthers out of reach, 4-2.

The Panthers return to action on Wednesday, Oct. 4, as they travel to Auburndale to face the Florida Southern Mocs at 7 p.m. ET. 

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