CHARLESTON, S.C. – The Florida Tech men's lacrosse team was unable to keep up with top-ranked Limestone on Saturday afternoon and the Saints defeated the Panthers 16-7 in a neutral site matchup at Bishop England High School.
"Hats off to Limestone, they are a great team," said head coach
Mark Penn. "They are well-coached and have talent all over the field. To beat them you have to play your best and we didn't do that today. We failed to execute our game plan and you can't do that against the #1 team in the nation.
"The key is that we learn from this and grow as a team. That's why we laid out a tough schedule. Hopefully, we mature and develop as we approach conference play."
Reid Chaconas guided Tech with three points on two goals and an assist.
Justin Williams netted a pair of goals while
Tommy Bowser and
Andy Stump recorded one goal and one assist apiece.
Jesse Morgan scored one goal and
Luke Palmisano finished with one assist.
Ethan Tosheff was impressive at the center X winning 15-of-23 face-offs and picking up a game-high eight ground balls.
"Ethan did a great job today," Penn added. "He gave us possessions and the opportunity to stay in the game. He's been consistently good and our wing play has gotten better each game. Coach
Ryan Land has worked hard to get that unit to buy into coordinated wing play."
Nick Cannetti added four ground balls. Morgan,
David Welsh,
Kyle Sergio and
Tristan Arias all had one caused turnover in the contest.
Jake Hahn got the start in goal and made four saves while allowing 15 goals.
Vincent Palermo came in relief and finished with one save and one goal allowed.
Limestone concluded the game with an edge in shots (36-33), ground balls (30-25) and caused turnovers (8-4). Tech was 9-of-12 on clear attempts while the Saints were successful on 15-of-18 tries.
The Saints scored on a man-up try to begin the scoring just 2:53 into the game. LC increased the lead to 2-0 before Chaconas found the back of the net off an assist from Stump with 9:01 to go in the first.
Limestone netted five unanswered goals to build its lead to 7-1 at the 9:58 mark of the second quarter. Chaconas got on the board again with 7:41 to go before halftime with a man-up tally on an assist from Palmisano. After LC pushed its lead to 8-2, Bowser scored his first of the season with 2:38 left and the Panthers went into the intermission trailing 9-3.
Williams tallied the first goal of the second half to help the Panthers cut the deficit to five. However, the Saints responded with a 6-0 run to get their advantage to 15-4 with 4:02 to go in the third quarter.
Tech ensued on a 3-0 run that spanned the end of the third to the beginning of the fourth quarter to get the margin to eight. Morgan got the streak started off an assist from Bowser with 3:10 left in the third. Williams then scored his second of the game from a pass by Chaconas before Stump netted an unassisted goal at the 12:04 mark of the fourth quarter to make the score 15-7.
The Saints shut out the Panthers the rest of the game while scoring one of their own, to improve to 3-0 on the season.
"Overall, this is another great experience for the team," Penn stated. "It was a beautiful venue in Charleston and we got to play the team of the decade. We took our lumps but we will use them to get stronger. I've got a very young but talented group and I love their response."
"We have two more tough games in the next seven days, and our student-athletes have a very rigorous academic workload. They have to stay focused and dedicated to the task."
Florida Tech is back in action on Monday, Feb. 24, as the Panthers travel to Newberry, S.C. for a matchup with the Newberry Wolves at Setzler Field. Opening face-off is set for 2 p.m.
For the latest news, updates and information on the Florida Tech men's lacrosse team, visit FloridaTechSports.com. Fans can also stay up-to-date on the latest Panthers news by following Florida Tech Athletics on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.
