Nine Goal Second Half Propels FIT Over Regis

Sara Grenier - Photo credit: James Ragan Photography

The ninth-ranked Florida Tech women’s lacrosse team overcame a six-goal halftime deficit on Friday, beating the 15th ranked Regis Rangers, 15-13 at Florida Tech Panther Stadium. The Florida Tech victory snapped the visitors eight-game winning streak.

Sara Grenier scored a game-high six goals, including four in the second half, leading the Panthers improbable comeback. She also added an assist, giving her a seven-point game.

Florida Tech goalie Stephanie Stuart (9-2) made only five saves, but she had a big one with 1:13 to go in the contest, robbing Erin Steiner on the doorstep. Regis fired 18 shots at her in the game, but only three in that decisive second half.

Things got off to a tough start for the Panthers, as Regis (8-1) scored the first three goals of the contest.  Grenier got the Panthers on the board with 23:35 left in the first half, beating Rangers goalie Kenley Harrington. Goals from Caroline Dunleavy and Allie Modica came 1:10 apart, tying the game at three.

The teams traded goals, with Aleah Fjelstad giving the Panthers their first lead at 5-4, with 17:57 to go in the first half. Sarah Myres tied things at five, less than a minute later, before Florida Tech regained the lead, on a goal from Modica, with 14:11 to go in the half.

That would be the last time the Panthers would find the back of the net that first half, as Regis would go on a seven-goal scoring spree, including two goals in the last minute, from Steiner with 48.6 seconds left and Tierra Romero, with 14.8 seconds left, giving the Rangers a 12-6 lead at the break.

“What we were trying to do was get out there and pressure them, we didn’t see a lot of teams get out in their face, so we kinda tried to set out to do that today,” said Florida Tech coach Corinne Desrosiers.   “We weren’t playing tight enough and our communication wasn’t on defensively, so they were really finding those open holes.”

Stephanie Stuart - Photo credit: James Ragan Photography
The second half was a completely different story. Grenier was a one-woman wrecking crew in the first 11 minutes. She scored the first three goals of the half, closing the gap to three, 12-9. 

It jump started an eight-goal barrage by the Panthers that saw the Panthers go from six down, to two up, 14-12.

Sam Schiano, Leah Dunn, Fjelstad and Mary Gormley scored twice in that stretch. Steiner scored the only Rangers goal of the half, with 11:55 to go, which made it a 14-13 game, in favor of Florida Tech. Gormley got the last goal of the game, with 8:02 to go.

From there, the Panthers controlled much of the possession, despite two yellow cards being issued to Modica, with 10:58 left and again, with 3:39 remaining. Florida Tech gained possession early in both of those sequences and were able to kill off the Regis advantage.

“In the second half, we just brought our defense in and played a little more conservatively,” said Desrosiers. “You drop a couple words in the locker room and the attack starts picking it up, too. I think you saw what we’re capable of, I think you saw mental toughness and I think you saw a team play together.”

Another key to the Panthers turnaround was ground balls. In the first half, Regis won that battle 10-9, but in the second half, things tilted in favor of the Panthers, 15-11. Each team turned the ball over 22 times.

“I think this was a wake-up call. I didn’t go in there at halftime, all hot and yell, said Desrosiers. “Regis was just really good on the ground ball, they were anticipating our moves and they did a great job preparing for us.”

For more info: Regis @ Florida Tech Box Score

The Panthers (9-2) return to Sunshine State Conference action on Tuesday, when they play host to Saint Leo, at 7:00 p.m.


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