MOUNT OLIVE, N.C. – Florida Tech was unable to get its offense going against No. 13 Mount Olive Saturday afternoon and the Panthers fell to the Trojans 9-6 on the road at Ray McDonald Sr. Sports Complex.

Reid Chaconas and Justin Williams paced Tech with two goals apiece. Tristan Arias and Chandler Hake each scored a goal while Luke Palmisano dished out an assist. Kyle Sergio finished with three ground balls and two caused turnovers while six other Panthers ended with one caused turnover apiece.

Ethan Tosheff won 10-of-17 face-offs and picked up four ground balls. David Demeter and Brandon Harry went 1-for-1 on the face-offs. Vincent Palermo made 10 saves while allowing nine goals.

Florida Tech outshot the Trojans 33-31 in the game while UMO finished with a slight edge in ground balls (21-20) and caused turnovers (9-8).

The Panthers got on the board first on a goal by Chaconas with 8:10 to go in the first quarter. Mount Olive scored four in a row to take a 4-1 lead with 14:24 to go in the second quarter.

Tech responded with three straight goals to even the game just before halftime. Hake and Arias netted unassisted tallies to make it a one-goal game with 3:42 remaining in the second. Chaconas then scored off a pass from Palmisano to tie the game at 4-4 with 16 seconds left in the first half.

It was a defensive stalemate for much of the third quarter. The Trojans tallied the first two goals of the frame to grab a 6-4 lead with 2:49 remaining. Williams scored to cut the margin to one late in the third but UMO got one more in with 12 seconds left in the period to push its lead back to 7-5.

After the Trojans scored again early in the fourth to push their advantage to three, Williams recorded his second goal of the day to trim to the deficit to 8-6 with 12:28 remaining. UMO added one more with 7:45 left in regulation and then shut out the Panthers the rest of the way to earn the three-goal victory.

Next up, Florida Tech will make its home debut for the 2020 season as the Panthers welcome St. Anselm to Melbourne. The start time for the home opener is set for 4 p.m. at Panther Field.

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