BOCA RATON, Fla. – No. 23 Florida Tech erased an eight-goal halftime deficit to force overtime in Wednesday's road game at Lynn, but the Fighting Knights prevailed in the extra period defeating the Panthers 16-15 at Bobby Campbell Stadium.
Rachel Johnson keyed Tech's comeback from a 10-2 margin at halftime, scoring a game-high six goals.
Caroline MacLeod recorded a hat trick to go along with seven draw controls.
Alexis Townsend added two goals and an assist.
Kailee O'Brien tallied two goals, three ground balls, two caused turnovers and one draw control while
Madison Savje registered two goals.
Olivia Going led all players in the game with seven caused turnovers and five ground balls.
Mollie Kaplan had an assist, five draw controls and a caused turnover and
Millie Hurt dished out an assist to go along with three draw controls and two caused turnovers.
Emily Harris made 14 saves in goal for the Panthers.
Lynn jumped out to a quick 6-0 advantage less than nine minutes into the first half. MacLeod accounted for both of Tech's goals in the opening frame, both coming on free position tries and making the score 7-2 for LU with 9:25 to go. The Fighting Knights added three more goals over the final 7:24 of the first half and went into the break leading by eight.
Consecutive unassisted goals by O'Brien opened the second half scoring and cut the margin to six with 25:42 remaining. Lynn answered with its own 2-0 run to push its lead to 12-4. Johnson scored an unassisted goal with 19:53 left and Townsend found the back of the net a few minutes later to trim the deficit back down to six.
After LU scored with 14:04 remaining, the Panthers ensued on a 7-1 run, which included goals by Townsend, MacLeod, Johnson (3) and Savje (2) and decreased the margin to 14-13 with 5:15 to go in regulation.
The Fighting Knights added another tally with 1:27 left but Johnson scored back-to-back goals over a 17-second span, tying the game up at 15-15 with 48 seconds remaining to force overtime.
The Panthers were able to get one shot off in overtime, but it was stopped. Lynn then moved the ball down the field and eventually scored with 9.7 seconds remaining in the overtime period to escape with the win.
Lynn had an advantage in shots (37-27), caused turnovers (20-16) and draw controls (17-16) in the game. Both teams were efficient in their clear attempts with the Panthers going 11-13 and Lynn finishing 14-16. Tech converted 6-12 free position attempts while the Fighting Knights went 0-3 on their opportunities.
Florida Tech is back in action this Saturday playing its first home game of the season against No. 20 Saint Leo at 1 p.m. at Panther Stadium.
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