Sports Lowdown

The Florida Tech Men’s Soccer team suffered a 2-1 defeat Sunday afternoon, at the Hands of Palm Beach Atlantic, in the second round of the NCAA tournament. The Panthers finished the 2016 season with five losses, two of those coming against the Sailfish. Florida Tech went down 1-0, when Charlie Dennis sent a rocket past Panthers goaltender Christian Moerch . The Sailfish defense was tough in the first half, holding the Panthers to just two shots in the first half, one on goal. Josh Thomas took the first shot 32:47 into the match and it was saved by Elliott. The second shot by Hugo Lopez went wide, at 39:47. Florida Tech (11-5-1) got things going in the right direction, early in the second half. The Panthers 2016 leader in goals, Luca Campanini got away from the PBA defense and launched a shot from the top of the box. Barker made the stop, but gave up a rebound and Lopez drilled it home, equaling the score with 27:18 left in the game. Moerch kept the game tied wit...

The Florida Tech soccer teams were victimized by surprising results in Tuesday’s opening round of the Sunshine State Conference tournament, with both the men and women dropping their respective games. The men lost to Eckerd, 3-1, while the Barry Buccaneers made their first half goal stand up, against the women. The men’s result was particularly surprising, considering that they had beaten the Tritons twice in the regular season, winning 3-2 on September 17 and 5-1 on October 18. Adin Kavara , who scored three times in the second meeting, scored the only goal for the Panthers on Tuesday, but his goal came in the 81 st minute and only helped his team avoid a shutout. The Panthers (11-4-1, 6-4-0 SSC) outshot Eckerd 16-13, but Tritons goaltender was only forced to make four saves on the night. Panthers backstop Christian Moerch , made five saves in the loss. One save he couldn’t make came at the 30:13 mark when Matheus Assumpcao beat him on a low shot of a pass fro...

Junior Forward Evan Enders gave the Florida Tech Men’s soccer team all the offense they would need, scoring a goal in each half and lifting the Panthers to a 2-0 win over the Barry Buccaneers on Tuesday. Enders got the scoring started at 18:19 of the first half and added his second goal of the night and sixth of the season with 8:23 left in the contest, to give the visitors a 2-0 lead, that would stand up. The first goal was assisted by Junior Josh Thomas , found Enders on a cross and Enders headed it past Barry goaltender Michael Scheraldi. It was one of seven shots that the Panthers took in the first half, to go along with six corner kicks. Enders was not on the field to start the second half, but was re-inserted with 12:32 gone in the second half, taking over for Thomas. Things got a bit heated in the second half, as the Panthers were pushing for an insurance goal. Tobias Hildmann and Fabian Egbele of the Panthers were issued yellow cards 32 seconds apart by...

The Tampa Spartans spoiled Senior Night in Melbourne, beating Florida Tech 3-1 in a Sunshine State Conference Men’s Soccer match on Saturday. The Panthers had their chances throughout the contest, firing 20 shots (11 on goal) in the loss, with 16 of those coming in the second half. Tampa (9-3-2, 4-3-1 SSC) jumped in front when Mike Ciluffo went one-on-one in the box, beat the defender and then beat Panthers’ goaltender Christian Moerch, giving the Spartans a 1-0 lead 13:25 into the match. The goal was one of eight shots Tampa took in the first half. Florida Tech (8-3-1, 5-3 SSC) did not have a shot on goal in the first half and took just four shots total. This was unfamiliar territory for the Panthers, who usually get off a good number of shots in each half. Credit to Tampa’s defense for shutting down the Panthers offensive attack in the first 45 minutes.   The Spartans scored the eventual game winner just 2:12 into the second half, off the foot of Jake Winship...

Returning to the field for the first time since October 1, the Florida Tech Men’s Soccer squad beat Nova Southeastern and Florida Southern this week, in back-to-back Sunshine State Conference games. After having their October 5 game against Warner canceled and the October 8 game against Embry-Riddle postponed, the Panthers improved to 7-2-1 overall and 5-2 in the SSC with the two victories. On Wednesday, Adin Kavara converted two penalty kicks to beat Nova Southeastern 2-1. It was redemption for Kavara, who missed the first penalty kick of his career back on September 11 against West Alabama. He got back on track in a big way Wednesday, putting two of them home. Kavara’s first chance came after Evan Enders was dragged down in the box in the 17 th minute. It was the only goal in a first half that saw the Panthers out shoot the Sharks 4-3. It took the Sharks (2-8, 0-5 SSC) just six minutes to answer in the second half, as Bestun Mohammed beat FIT goaltender Christ...

The Florida Tech Men’s Soccer team suffered a 3-0 loss at Lynn on Saturday, in a Sunshine State Conference match. The loss was the first in the conference for the Panthers, who fell to 5-2-1 overall. Lynn improved to 8-1-1 and 3-1-1 in the conference. Florida Tech fired nine shots on goal, but Alexander Roth was a wall in front of the Fighting Knights net, turning away all of them. Christian Moerch , who was playing his first game since being named player of the week, faced six shots. Jack Watson scored twice in the match, including the eventual game winner, just 7:22 into the contest. That was the only goal of the first half, but the home team was able to add some insurance in the second half. Florida Tech had six shots in each half, they just weren’t able to solve a very tough goaltender. Roth made five saves in the second half, while his offense got goals from Dominic Docherty at 60:56 and Watson, at 66:27, as he knocked in a rebound, to put the icing on the cake. ...

The Florida Tech Men’s Soccer team endured almost three hours of weather-related delays on Wednesday, in a 2-1 extra-time loss to the Sailfish in West Palm Beach. Add to that, the eight and a half minutes of overtime and you have a match that ended at 12:14 a.m. on Thursday. The two teams only combined for six shots in a first half that was played in very sloppy conditions.  Palm Beach Atlantic finally found the back of the net, just shy of 10 minutes into the second half. Kebba Nyang was able to beat the Panthers defense and then Panthers’ goalie Christian Moerch , giving Palm Beach Atlantic a 1-0 lead. After an extended lightning delay, the Panthers got on the board when Brandon Smalley took a free kick that he got into the box to Bjoern Jaeger, who passed to Jack Willison . He headed it past PBA goalie Elliott Barker, to knot the game, 1-1. Palm Beach Atlantic applied most of the offensive zone pressure the rest of the half, taking six shots following the ty...

The Florida Tech Men’s Soccer team came away with a big 1-0 win over 22 nd ranked Rollins on Saturday at Rick Stottler Field in Melbourne. The win moved the Panthers to 5-0-1 overall and 3-0 in the Sunshine State Conference. Adin Kavara came up with the decisive strike 64:52 into the game, when he headed it past Tars starting goaltender Drew Trautmann. It was not an easy victory by any means, as Rollins controlled play for much of the first half, taking 10 shots and forcing FIT goalie Christian Moerch to make four saves. The Panthers took three shots in that first half, all of them had to be saved by Trautmann. Moerch barely had a chance to get comfortable between the pipes, as he made his first save 14 seconds into the game. Rollins had another shot go off the post at the 11:56 mark. Sam Sawyer and Kavara took a couple early shots, with Kavara getting one in the eighth minute and in the 10 th minute. In the second half, the Tars had a couple early chances, before...