Panthers Solidify First Round Bye

MELBOURNE, Fla. (Women’s Soccer) – Florida Tech wrapped up its regular season conference schedule with an 8-0 win over the Eckerd Tritons on Tuesday at Rick Stottler Field.  With the victory, the Panthers guaranteed themselves at least the No. 2 seed in the upcoming Sunshine State Conference Tournament scheduled to begin Tuesday, Nov. 3.

By earning at least the No. 2 seed in the tournament, Tech will not only host at least one match, but they will also receive a first round bye.  Up until this year, the Panthers had not achieved a seed higher than sixth in the conference tournament.

The win improves Tech’s record to 14-2-0 overall and 7-1-0 in the conference, while Eckerd drops to 2-12-1 on the season and 0-8-0 in league play.

Following Alyssa Esposito’s goal off a beautiful cross by Brittany Carnegie in the 11th minute, the Panthers were unable to find the back of the net the remainder of the half.  The Tech defense and goalkeeper Melissa Pyles limited the Tritons to just four shots in the opening half, none of which were great opportunities.

“We did not come out as strong as I would have liked in the first half,” Tech head coach Fidgi Haig said.  “I told our players at halftime that we need to take care of what we can control.  They took the message, executed many of our chances and played at a higher level of intensity in the second half.”

Tech went right to work in the second period as DeeDee Newland began the seven-goal scoring spree with her fifth goal of the season in the first two minutes.  Less than three minutes later, two passes by Newland and Carnegie found the head of Teresa Brantley, who punched it in the net for her first of three goals on the afternoon.

With the Panthers leading 3-0 in the 80th minute, they broke open the game by scoring an unprecedented five goals in a span of 10 minutes and 12 seconds. Katie King padded her team’s advantage when she scored her fifth goal of the year just past the 80th minute.  Brantley added her second score of the match 36 seconds later before Kelli Ragan scored her first of the season in the 84th minute on a cross from Carnegie.

Brantley tallied her third and final goal less than five minutes prior to the final whistle.  In the last minute, Rachel Devlin served a ball to Ragan, who broke away from the Triton defense and blasted it into the net for her second goal of the match.

After making two saves in the first half, Pyles did not see a shot in the second half as she went on to record her eighth shutout of the season.  She also lowered her conference-leading goals against average and save percentage to 0.63 and .857, respectively.
 
Brantley’s hat trick was the first of her season and the second of her career.  She recorded her first hat trick as a Panther against Eckerd on Oct. 9, 2007.

Without playing, Tech has a chance to improve its seed in the conference tournament.  First place Rollins and third place Florida Southern will square off in their final regular season conference match of the season in Lakeland on Thursday at 5 p.m.

The Panthers will conclude their regular season when they square off against seventh-ranked Columbus State Friday at 4 p.m. at Rick Stottler Field.   Prior to the match, the team will honor its six seniors: Brantley, Jennifer Gillette, Brittany Gobish, Mikaela McKenney, Pyles and Therese Svensson as part of Senior Day.

“We need to come out strong on Friday because it’s going to be a tough match,” Haig said.  “We need to play a full 90 minutes and not just one half.  We also need to put today’s game behind us and start focusing on Friday.”

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