MELBOURNE, Fla. (November 9, 2023) - The Florida Tech Panthers outlasted Rollins on Thursday, coming away with a 2-1 win over the Tars. Rollins stands at 9-5-3, while Florida Tech improves to 11-1-4.
The first five minutes of the match were a simple back-and-forth as the two teams felt each other out. Then, in the seventh minute, the Panthers found a hole in the Tars' defense and struck. Nokkvi Nokkvason made it all the way to the baseline before sending a cross into the box. His pass was received by Ettore Caadei, who was able to beat
Maximillian Obermeier for the first goal of the game.
Rollins didn't record a shot on goal until the 21st minute when defenseman
Kaden Foreman was credited with a strike.
Florida Tech struck once again in the 27th minute when Cadsadei found space to launch a shot on goal. The shot was stopped, but the rebound went right to a crashing Filippo Fazzi, whose strike was found the bac of the net for a 2-0 Panthers lead.
Things got spicy in the final minute of play when three yellows were dished out before the break.
Rollins did not wait long to make things interesting. Just four minutes into the second half,
Pedro Lameiras led a break towards the Panthers' goal, and fed his brother,
Jorge Lameiras, with a nice pass. The first-team All-SSC forward did his job, sneaking the ball past the keeper to cut the lead in half.
Just five minutes later, the Tars had a prime chance when Pedro found himself in scoring range. His initial shot was blocked by Iker Bastida, and then the ball found its way back to Lameiras. His second attempt was also stonewalled in an impressive effort from the senior keeper.
Rollins did not have a shot on goal for the remainder of the game as the Panther defense locked down on their half of the field.
The Tars' quest for a SSC championship is over, but their season hopefully is not. They could still claim an at-large bid into the NCAA South Region. The selection show will take place on Monday evening, November 13.
