Sports Lowdown

Keira McCarthy - Photo credit: James Ragan Photography Keira McCarthy scored the only goal of the game Wednesday, giving her team a very important 1-0 win over Rollins in a Sunshine State Conference women's soccer match at Rick Stottler Field.   The Panthers dominated statistically, but Rollins goalie Kelly Rowswell kept her team in the game, making eight saves. The one save she couldn't make was off the foot of McCarthy, who didn't get all of the ball, but enough to just have it trickle over the goal line, with 20:12 to go in regulation. Brie Heitz was given the assist on the goal.   With the victory, the Panthers improve to 7-6-2 overall and move to .500 in the conference with a 4-4-1 record. They are now back in contention for a spot in the Sunshine State Conference tournament, which starts next Tuesday.   Florida Tech took 12 shots in a scoreless first half, with five of them saved by Rowswell. On the other side, Florida Tech goalie Karlyn Prisc...

The Florida Tech women's soccer team suffered a heartbreaking 1-0 loss Saturday night, as Molly Sharpe put one in the upper right corner of the net with 3:07 left in overtime, sending Barry to a Sunshine State Conference home victory.   This game was scoreless through 90 minutes, despite the Buccaneers controlling much of the possession. The loss sends the Panthers to 5-5-2 overall and 2-3-1 in the conference. They have now lost two in a row.   Barry dominated possession for much of the first half, as Florida Tech goaltender Karlyn Prisco was forced to make seven saves. Barry outshot the Panthers 13-5 over the first 45 minutes and had four corners to the Panthers two. Maria Munoz had two shots to lead FIT.   The Panthers got an early corner in the second half, but were closed down. Moments later, Barry goalkeeper Melanie Ziegner made a great save with her foot as she was falling backward on a shot by Munoz. That was the best chance Florida Tech would hav...

Florida Southern (6-1-1, 3-1 SSC) got two goals from Alexa Moberley on Wednesday, taking down the visiting Florida Tech Panthers in a Women's Soccer Sunshine State Conference match.   Florida Tech (5-3-1, 2-2 SSC) out shot the Moccasins 18-10 and had six shots on goal to the home team's  four, but the Mocs were the only team to find the back of the net, as Moberley beat Karlyn Prisco in the 27th minute and again in the 50th minute.   Maria Munoz continued to do her part with the Panthers, as she fired six shots in the game. One of those was saved by Florida Southern goalie Helena Norrstrom . Keira McCarthy was credited with four of the 18 Florida Tech shots.   Jess Goedde got three early corner kicks for the Moccasins and following the third one, she found Moberley in the box 26:10 into the contest and the home team was up 1-0. Corners were the story of the night for Florida Southern, as they held a convincing 12-3 advantage in that category by t...

Maria Munoz continued her dominance on Saturday, scoring two goals and adding one assist in Florida Tech's 4-2 women's soccer victory at Saint Leo.   Munoz who had a hat trick back on September 20th in a 4-1 home win over Lynn now leads the Sunshine State Conference with 15 points overall. She has six goals and three assists.   Keira McCarthy and Kelly Johnson were the other Panther goal scorers in this match and goalie Karlyn Prisco allowed two goals while making two saves. Lions goalie Julia Ortiz made three saves.   It took just 14:54 for Munoz to find the back of the net. She took a pass from Kiana Zanganeh just inside the 18-yard box and drilled past Ortiz.   With the second half winding down, Munoz shared the wealth, as she found McCarthy who had a good look and put it past Ortiz for a 2-0 lead, with 3:37 left in the first half.   Florida Tech (5-2-1, 2-1-0 SSC) took just 6:54 to get on the board in the second half. Munoz ma...

Florida Tech scored early and they scored late, but in between they gave up three goals to the 20th ranked Nova Southeastern Sharks Wednesday night, resulting in a 3-2 loss at Rick Stottler Field. Elin Svensson got the Panthers off to a good start, scoring 2:24 into the match, off a pass from Monica Zabian . Nova goalie Jordan Lentz came out to try to cut down the angle, but Svensson got it by her for her first of two goals on the night. The Panthers (4-2-1, 1-1 SSC) took a couple more shots with Kiana Zanganeh and Svensson forcing Lentz to make a couple saves about 20 minutes after the goal. FIT held the lead until a free kick by Monica Orteu from 40 yards out was sent just over the outstretched arm of Panthers goaltender Karlyn Prisco and into the upper-right corner of the net. It was a great effort by Prisco to play the ball, as she leaped and came down into teammate Macey Hedelund , who was stationed at the far post. The Sharks led the Panthers in shots, 10-6 as the...

Florida Tech scored their second consecutive home victory on Saturday, taking down the Eckerd Tritons 2-0 at Rick Stottler Field. This follows a 4-1 victory on Wednesday over the Lynn Fighting Knights.   The Panthers (4-1-1, 1-0 SSC) got off to a slow start, as they were held scoreless in the first half. Panthers goalie Karlyn Prisco returned the favor, keeping the Tritons off the scoreboard through the first 45 minutes, recording three saves in that span. She added one more save in the second half.   The Panthers finally dented the scoreboard 66:51 into the game, as Mary Watson found Keira McCarthy on a crossing pass and she headed by Eckerd goaltender Casey Winn and into the back of the net, giving Florida Tech a 1-0 lead.   FIT was awarded a corner kick about a minute later and they made it count, as Taylor Eller scored her second goal of the season. Maria Munoz , who had a hat trick on Wednesday, recorded the assist on Eller's tally.   ...

The wait was worth it for the Florida Tech Panthers, who opened their home season on Wednesday night with a 4-1 win over the Lynn Fighting Knights at Rick Stottler Field.   Maria Munoz was the star of the night, scoring a hat trick. She took five shots on goal, scoring three times and now has four goals on the season. “She played a great game and struck the ball very well,” said Panthers coach Dustin Smith. “There were some clean shots and clean opportunities and I'm proud of her.”   Lynn got the upper-hand early, with a goal off the foot of Donish Henry-Cole , who beat Karlyn Prisco with 39:43 left in the first half.   “Lynn came out and did pretty well in trying to assert themselves and be aggressive, I think that's why they scored early,” said Smith. "They were pushing us, they were being physical, all in a legal way and they caught us off guard and deserved the goal to go up one-nil.”   Just over 12 minutes later, Munoz got the Panther...

The Florida Tech women's soccer team got a goal from Maria Munoz in the 33rd minute Sunday and it held as the game winner, as the Panthers evened their record at 1-1 with a 1-0 victory over Angelo State.   After falling 2-0 to Texas A&M Commerce in their opener on Friday and having just four shots on goal, the Panthers had nine shots on goal on Sunday and took 15 shots overall.   The Florida Tech offense was clicking early, as they took 11 of those shots in the first half. Munoz made hers count at the 32:58 mark, making a nice move around her defender and burying it into the left side of the net. K eira McCarthy was credited with the assist.   Karlyn Prisco got her second start in net for the Panthers and was tested only once, on a shot by Megan Allen in the 42nd minute. ASU goaltender Sammy Cude made eight saves, keeping her team in the game throughout.   Elin Svensson led the Panthers in shots with six, four were on goal. Munoz took...

The Florida Tech women's soccer team jumped right into the deep end of the pool, opening their season at #15 Texas A&M-Commerce University on Friday night. The Lions scored two goals early in the second half and they stood up as the difference in the game. The first half was fairly quiet, as is usually the case in season openers. Florida Tech goaltender Karlyn Prisco made two saves, the first on a shot from Leslie Campuzano at the 20:49 and another 4:55 later, off the foot of Sophie Haywood. The only shot on goal for Florida Tech came with 16:38 elapsed, as Brittany Etrick was denied by Lions goalie Caitlin Duty. The halftime break seemed to be just what the doctor ordered for Texas A&M-Commerce, as they took just four minutes to tickle the twine behind Prisco. Haywood, who Prisco turned away earlier, settled a high ball down and beat Prisco, giving the home team a 1-0 lead. Kara Blasingame was awarded a corner kick at 54:13 and she put it on the foot of Del...

Florida Tech Freshman Maria Munoz had a goal in each half against Lynn on Tuesday, leading the women’s soccer team to their 10 th victory of the season. Munoz came into the match with just one goal this season and left the game with three. This was an impressive offensive performance for the Panthers, who had 23 shots as a team, 14 of those coming in the first half. Nine of those shots were on goal, beating the Fighting Knights shot total (8) for the game. Panthers goalie Karlyn Prisco only had to make two saves. Munoz scored the first goal 29:22 into the match, beating Fighting Knights goaltender Alexa Downie. Maddy Keenan was credited with the assist. That lead held through the end of the first half, but as dominating as the Panthers were for much of the game, Lynn (3-9-2) did make a game of it. Caroline Duerr came up with her with 3:42 left in the match, beating Prisco from the top of the box and tying the game at one. As you would expect, the Panthers did not g...