MELBOURNE, Fla. – The Florida Tech men's lacrosse team wrapped up regular season play on the road Wednesday night, falling 17-7 to RV Saint Leo. Despite the early momentum, the Panthers couldn't keep pace with the Lions' offensive surge, closing out the season with a 6-9 overall record and earning the No. 6 seed in the upcoming SSC Tournament.
 
INSIDE THE MATCHUP:
Final: Florida Tech 7, RV Saint Leo 17
Records: Florida Tech (6-9, 2-5 SSC) | RV Saint Leo (9-6, 3-4 SSC)
Locations: Saint Leo, FL | University Turf Stadium

FIRST QUARTER: 

• The Panthers struck first just 30 seconds into the game as Jack Cornwell put one through the back of the net giving Tech the first lead of the night, 1-0.
• Saint Leo responded with a goal of their own just over two minutes later to tie the game via a goal from Tristan Leblanc, 1-1.
• The Lions took their first lead in the game at the 11:35 minute mark behind an Aidan Knoetgen goal, 2-1, and increased their lead to two after Ben Baker secured his first of the night, 3-1.
• Tech answered back with a goal from Gavin Wessel at the 9:13 mark cutting their deficit to one, 3-2.
• The game was blown open by the Lions after they scored three unanswered goals to end the quarter. Two goals came from Maverick Chernoff at 5:06 and at 3:56, the final goal of the quarter came from Knoetgen, his second of the night, at 2:20.
• The deficit would be four, 6-2 after the first quarter.

 
SECOND QUARTER: 

• Facing a large deficit Tech would have to slowly chip away to get back in the mix of things and after a scoreless four minutes, 27 seconds, Carson Mann would put one in for the Panthers from an assist by Brett Nastos, 6-3.
• What ensued after the Panther goal would favor only the Lions as they rattled in five unanswered goals to take the largest lead of the game at 11-3.
• Michael Guenther, Zach Kroog twice, Thomas Nelan, and JD Henninger each put one through the net for the Lions before a Joe Coveleski goal at 2:41 for the Panthers would carry Tech into halftime 11-4.

 
THIRD QUARTER:

• The start to the third quarter was exactly what the Panthers needed, scoring two goals in the first five minutes of play from Rob Gadomski assisted by Jakob Terpak, and Brooks Van Esselstyn assisted by Coveleski chipping away the Saint Leo lead now 11-6.
• It wasn't until the 5:20 mark that the Lions broke through and added back to their lead with a goal from Brayden Stellwagen, 12-6.
• One more goal was scored in the quarter in favor of the Lions at 3:37 by Shane Jones, building the lead back up to seven heading into the final quarter, 13-6.

                               
FOURTH QUARTER: 

• After solid defense from both crews over the first five minutes, Saint Leo turned on the gas dropping in two goals at 9:03 and 7:48 both coming from Knoetgen bringing him up to four on the night.
• The deficit loomed too large for a comeback as Saint Leo added in another goal at 4:26, creating a 10-point lead, 16-6.
• The Panthers continued to hustle to the end and Gary Lozito would be rewarded and score the final one for Tech at 3:01 before one last Saint Leo goal at 1:28 would put things away.
• Tech would take the loss, 16-7 in the final game of the regular season.

 
NOTABLE PANTHERS: 

• In 43 minutes played, Jax Francisco had a game-high 10 saves.
• Shale Saeger collected a team-high five groundballs.
• Seven different Panthers accounted for each of the goals scored for the team.

 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE:

• Saint Leo led Tech in shots with (51-31) and in groundballs (48-30).
• Tech had the advantage in saves (14-8), but Saint Leo had more faceoffs secured, 15 to the Panthers 13.
• The Lions led in clears by two (21-23) to Techs (19-21)

 
BEYOND THE BOX SCORE:

• All-time vs. Saint Leo: 6-8
• Tech is now 2-5 at Saint Leo all-time
• Jakob Terpak is currently fifth on the program's career assist list with 43 after registering one in tonight's game. He needs now just one to move past Andrew Conley (2012-2015) for fourth place.

 
UP NEXT: The regular season has now concluded, and the now No. 6 seeded Tech will travel to No. 3 Rollins this coming Saturday, April 19 at 1 PM to take on the Tars in the first round of the SSC tournament with the winner set to play the awaiting No. 2 Lynn Fighting Knights on Wednesday, April 23.

For the latest news, updates, and information on the Florida Tech men's lacrosse team, visit FloridaTechSports.com. Fans can also stay up-to-date on the latest Panthers news by following Florida Tech Athletics on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.