TAMPA, Fla. – Florida Tech got off to a slow start against No. 1 ranked Tampa on Saturday and fell to the Spartans 16-7 at the Naimoli Family Athletic and Intramural Complex.
 
Tampa controlled the first half and went into halftime leading the Panthers 10-1. However, the second half was much closer between the teams with each scoring six goals over the final two quarters. The Crimson & Gray played well defensively in the second half, and held the Spartans to a season-low for goals scored (16), nine below their season average of 25 goals per game.  
 
Reid Chaconas recorded two goals and one assist in the game and is now tied atop the program record book for career goals with 96. He is tied with former Panther, Andrew Conley. Additionally, the Westminster, Maryland product moved up into a tie for third (Nick Wynne) on the all-time points list with 118 career points. Chaconas needs just 22 more points to become the program's all-time leader in that category. 
 
Freshman Zach Rozgonyi had another great game for the Panthers, finishing with two goals, an assist and three ground balls while fellow freshman Luke Jayne added a goal and an assist. Justin Williams dished out three assists to go along with one ground ball and one caused turnover. Cristian Torres had a goal, one caused turnover, and three ground balls and Patrick Stewart scored one goal in the game. Luke Palmisano recorded an assist and two ground balls. 
 
Josh Vetter led Tech's defense with six ground balls and two caused turnovers while JP Panchookian and David Welsh each caused one turnover in the game. 
 
The Panthers went 8-24 on faceoffs while having to go up against the Spartans' All-American specialist Ross Dickerson. Ethan Tosheff won 7-21 draws in the game and collected four ground balls and Jack Maranto went 1-3 on his faceoff opportunities. 
 
For the second straight game, Kyle Renz started in goal for the Panthers and made four saves before being replaced at halftime. Vincent Palermo came in and played the third and fourth quarters and made five saves while allowing just six goals. 
 
Tampa scored three quick goals over a 38-second span to jump ahead 3-0 just 2:19 into the game. Torres got the Panthers on the board with 7:15 left in the first quarter off an assist from Rozgonyi to make the score 3-1. 
 
The Spartans tallied two more goals in the first quarter and five more in the second to carry a 10-1 advantage into halftime. 
 
Tampa added two more goals early in the third quarter to push its lead to 12-1. Rozgonyi scored back-to-back goals, off assists from Chaconas and Williams, to cut the margin to 12-3 with 4:45 left it the third. 
 
Stewart scored a man-up goal off an assist from Williams to make the score 13-4 with 13:56 to go but Tampa would answer with three straight tallies to increase its lead to 16-4. 
 
Chaconas scored his first of the day on a rocket to the top right corner with 4:06 remaining. He then tied the goals record 49 seconds later on a man-up goal. Jayne then found the back of the net off an assist from Williams to close out thescoring in the game with 1:11 left on the clock. 
 
Tampa finished with an advantage in shots (47-37), shots on goal (25-19), faceoffs (16-8) and caused turnovers (11-9) in the game. 
 
Florida Tech will look to bounce back when the team returns to action on Tuesday, April 6, hosting Florida Southern at Panther Field. The contest is set to begin at 4 p.m.
 
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