MELBOURNE, Fla. – Florida Tech closed the 2021 season in style, rolling to a 16-8 home victory over Saint Leo on Senior Day at Panther Field. 
 
Tech honored 15 senior players prior to the game, as well as two already departed teammates from the 2020 season. Once the contest began, the Panthers rode the energy and jumped out to a 5-0 advantage less than nine minutes into the game. The Panthers built their lead to 10-4 at halftime before laying it on the Lions with six scores in the fourth quarter on the way to an enthusiastic eight-goal victory. 
 
"Energy was the name of the game today," said head coach Mark Penn. "This team was determined to get our seniors a win and they came out firing today. That's saying something when we played a game yesterday, and lost, and came out again today and poured it on a very good Saint Leo team.
 
"I think us having fans at the game made a big difference. The energy and atmosphere today, I don't think it's ever been that energetic on the "Backyard". It was really just a cool experience and very fun, and the fans were a big part of it. I really want to thank our university President, Dr. McCay for allowing spectators at today's game."
 
Reid Chaconas wrapped up his illustrious career with two goals, an assist and two ground balls. He ends his career as the program's all-time leader in goals with 106 and ranks second all-time in points with 131. 
 
"Reid Chaconas, what a career, what a young man he is," Penn exclaimed. "It was very emotional for us to watch him celebrate today,  to go out with a win and score goals. He played in honor of his late father today. I'm really thankful to God that Reid was awarded for all of his hard work today and walked away with a victory."
 
Bennett Duffy scored a season-high three goals while Zach Rozgonyi and Andy Stump recorded two goals apiece. Chandler Hake tallied a goal and two assists and Justin Williams had a goal and three ground balls. Senior defender Ryan Lepp and graduate student Danny Lowe also got into the offensive mix with one goal each. Nick Cannetti, Austin Engeler, senior Luke Palmisano, senior Kyle Sergio and grad student Cristian Torres each dished out an assist in the win. 
 
Josh Vetter led the defensive effort with five ground balls and five caused turnovers. Senior Austin Smith had 3 caused turnovers while fellow senior David Welsh collected three ground balls and one caused turnover. Sergio added two ground balls and one caused turnover in his last career game. JP Panchookian added two caused turnovers and one ground ball. 
 
The Lions won the face-off battle (18-10). Ethan Tosheff went 6-18 on his attempts to go along with five ground balls and one caused turnover. Jack Maranto went 4-9 on face-offs with two ground balls. 
 
Senior Kyle Renz made the third start of his career in goal, earning his second win while registering 12 saves, five ground balls and one caused turnover. Senior Jake Hahn closed out the game in the Panthers' net, playing the final eight minutes of the contest.
 
"Renz was a rock in cage," Penn stated. "He's a guy who has done all the dirty work over the years. Going into today's game, he promised me that he was going to make the most of the opportunity and he sure did. It was amazing to watch and I'm proud of him for finishing his Florida Tech career in that fashion after being such a major contributor to this team over his career."
 
Florida Tech finished with an edge in shots (52-31), shots on goals (31-20) and caused turnovers (16-9). The Lions collected more ground balls (44-41). The Panthers went 18-23 on clears while SLU converted 13-16 clear attempts. 
 
"The whole team decided to come out and play with amazing energy today for our seniors and it lifted us to a great victory," said Penn. "It was great to see all the seniors play in the game today, in their final game, and get the win. All of them made contributions and it was really rewarding to give those guys that opportunity today."

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