MELBOURNE, Fla. – Senior Reid Chaconas broke the all-time Florida Tech career goals record as the Panthers defeated Florida Southern 13-9 on Tuesday afternoon at Panther Field. 
 
Chaconas became the program's all-time leading goal scorer with his tally at the 1:47 mark of the first quarter. He now tops the goal scoring list with 97 and counting. Chaconas finished with a goal and two assists in the game, which moves him into third in career points with 121. 
 
"Incredible accomplishment for Reid, I'm proud to see him achieve it," said head coach Mark Penn. "Reid has worked so hard to reach that mark. It's just another thing he is going to carry off as part of his legacy and the history he's created here in our program. It's very impressive and well-deserved for an all-around great young man." 
 
Florida Tech received production from across the roster as eight different players scored goals in the victory. Additionally, the Panthers posted season-highs in both shots (54) and assists (10) in the game. 

Luke Jayne accounted for four of the Panthers' assists and tied a game-high with five points. Zach Rozgonyi recorded a hat trick on the day while Chandler Hake had four points on two goals and two assists to go along with six ground balls and three caused turnovers. Justin Williams ended with a goal, two assists and four ground balls. Matt Gutmann and Luke Palmisano each scored two goals while Nate Deplancke tallied one goal. 
 
"One of the big highlights today is that we are starting to see the influence of this coaching staff on the team," Penn said. "Coach Zach Wynne and Coach John Combs are really doing a great job implementing their offensive system. It is so solid and the reason why we are seeing the offense spread across so many players every game. 

"On the defensive side, Coach Ray Bannister is coordinating that group very well and keeping them consistently playing with a lot of intensity. And Coach Ryan Land did a good job of putting in different pieces on the faceoffs throughout the game. Florida Southern has a pretty good faceoff guy but we were able to rally in the second half and win the ones we needed to at the end of the game."

The Panthers were almost perfect on clears in the game, going 18-19. The Mocs, on the other hand, struggled with Tech's ride and converted on just 11-19 clears. Additionally, Florida Tech finished with an edge in ground balls (43-34) and collected 15 caused turnovers against FSC. 

Josh Vetter led the defense with four caused turnovers and six ground balls. Cristian Torres added two caused turnovers and six other players recorded one caused turnover in the game. David Welsh was a force on the ground balls, finishing with five. 
 
"Josh Vetter is a game-changer for us especially on the ground balls," Penn added. "He is causing turnovers and making our defense better every day. Him (Vetter) and David Welsh also did a fantastic job covering their best attackmen today and nearly shut both of them out in the game."

Vincent Palermo had a strong game between the pipes for the Panthers and made 14 saves to earn his first win of the season. 
 
"Palermo is starting to regain his form after coming back from injury," stated Penn. "He started out in a slump but is starting to turn it on in practice, like the player we know he is. I felt very confident in him going into the game. He made 14 big saves today, helped us be successful in clears and had some great plays outside the goal."

After a back-and-forth start to the game, the Panthers got on the board first on a goal by Williams, off an assist from Chaconas, with 7:44 to go in the first quarter. FSC tied the game less than a minute later but Tech regained the lead on Deplancke's lone tally of the game off an assist from Hake.
 
Chaconas' record-setting goal came off an assist from Jayne and put Florida Tech up 3-1 with less than two minutes to go in the opening quarter. Jayne then handed out assists on Tech's next two goals as well, both by Palmisano, to help the Panthers grab a 5-3 lead with 11:19 remaining in the second quarter. 
 
The Mocs tied the game at 5-5 with 6:50 to go before halftime. Rozgonyi scored his first of the game to put Tech back up by one, and then Gutmann tallied his first goal of the season, on an assist from Williams, to give the Panthers a 7-5 lead with 54 seconds to go in the first half.
 
Rozgonyi increased Florida Tech's advantage to 8-5 early in the third quarter, off an assist from Jayne. Back-to-back goals by Hake put the Panthers up 10-6 lead with 5:39 to go in the quarter. After FSC cut its deficit to 10-7, Jayne netted his lone goal of game to push the margin back to four with 1:44 left in the third. 
 
Rozgonyi completed his hat trick early in the fourth, off an assist from Hake, to give Tech a 12-8 advantage. Gutmann then sealed the Panthers' second win of the season with his final goal of the game with 5:41 remaining. 
 
"This was a good team win, really proud of the guys for coming out and playing with a lot of energy today against a very tough and well-coached Florida Southern team," said Penn. "That's a very good team, better than today's score indicates, and we're going to have a tough time against them next time out."
 
Florida Tech will have eight days to rest and prepare for its next game on Wednesday, April 14, against Palm Beach Atlantic at Panther Field. The contest is set to begin at 4 p.m. 
 
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