Florida Southern Mauls Florida Tech in NCAA Quarters



Sara Grenier - Photo credit: James Ragan Photography


The third time was not the charm Saturday, for the Florida Tech women’s lacrosse team. Florida Southern completed a season sweep of the Panthers, with a 16-5 victory in the quarterfinal round of the NCAA Tournament in Lakeland.

Kendall Kerge, who had a big game against the Panthers earlier in the season, scored half of the Florida Southern goals in this game and added an assist for good measure. She scored on eight of her 10 shots.

After a big win over East Stroudsburg on Friday, the Panthers drew a third meeting against the Moccasins and could not get through a very tough Florida Southern defense that put the clamps down early, making it difficult for the Panthers to get into any kind of rhythm.

Sara Grenier and Allie Modica led the Panthers with two goals each, while Caroline Dunleavy and Aleah Fjelstad, had single tallies. Dunleavy, had seven goals and four assists on Friday, but Saturday, the Moccasins kept her at bay.

Grenier started the scoring, burying a free-position goal against FSC goalie Taylor Gillis, with 24:54 to go in the first half. Emily Santoli, who ended the day with three goals and two assists, tied the game up at one 1:59 later, getting a ball by Florida Tech goaltender Stephanie Stuart.

Casey O’Brien’s goal gave the Mocs their first lead of the day, but Dunleavy answered with a free-position goal, tying the game at two, with 18:09 left. Kerge scored again to make it 3-2 and a goal by Meghan O’Brien gave the home team a 4-2 lead, with 14:47 to go.

Following a Florida Tech timeout, Fjelstad made it 4-3 with 14:27 left, but Kerge answered 19 seconds later, making it a 5-3 game. Grenier’s second of the day came just under three minutes later, making it 5-4, but the Moccasins would find their groove from there.

Kerge and Santoli would combine to score the last four goals of the first half, widening the lead to 9-4 at the break.

It was a dominating first half for the Moccasins, who scored on nine of their 10 shots on goal. Things continued that way in the second half, as Kerge scored just 36 seconds in, to give her team a 10-4 lead.

Modica scored her 56th goal of the season 4:59 later to cut the lead in half, but Florida Southern would go on a six-goal run, which was eventually broken up by Modica’s goal with 4:33 left in the contest.

Chloe Zador - Photo credit: James Ragan Photography
Freshman Chloe Zador took over in the Florida Tech net with 4:10 remaining, just to give her some experience under the bright tournament lights. Stuart was credited with six saves on the day and did make a couple tough saves in the second half, even with the outcome decided.

For more info: Florida Tech @ Florida Southern Box Score (NCAA Quarterfinals)

The Panthers end the season with a record of 14-4. They have nothing to hang their heads about, despite this outcome. While nobody wants the season to end with anything short of a championship, the Panthers accomplished a lot, making its first Sunshine State Conference Championship Game and following that up with a win Friday, in their first ever NCAA tournament appearance.

When you consider that this is only the third year that this program has been in existence, head coach Corinne Desrosiers and these players have a lot to build on going into the 2018 season.

I want to take this time to thank coach Desrosiers and the team for the interviews and social media interactions during this, our first season covering the team at Sports Lowdown. We look forward to another great season next year.



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