MELBOURNE, Fla. (November 13, 2025) - Women's soccer fell just shy of continuing their underdog run through the SSC tournament, falling 2-1 to the Florida Tech Panthers in the semifinals on Thursday. The Tars now stand at 7-6-4 on the year, while the Panthers improve to 11-3-5.
The Panthers were relentless in their attack early on, putting
Lauren Mehos to work in goal. After saving three shots in a two minute span, Mehos was finally beaten on an unlikely shot from Nora Oldmark. The Rollins defense had seemingly cleared the ball after a Mehos save, and Tech looked to be resetting the offense around midfield. Suddenly, Oldmark took a chance from about 35 yards away, and caught Mehos off-guard, sneaking the ball into the net for a 1-0 lead.
Just eight minutes into the second half, Florida Tech struck again. This time, Mia Otero was fed a pass from Kathryn Watson from the right side, and finished with her right foot near the penalty spot to put the home team up 2-0.
With the comfortable lead, the Panthers focused on their defense and stopped the Tars from getting clean looks. However, in the 76th minute, Rollins finally broke through the defense. After a failed attack, Tech tried to clear the ball. but
Emma McMurry intercepted the pass, and sent it over to fellow defender
Gabby Mellett. The freshman then sent what looked to be a cross into the box, but
Alayna Townsend and the Tech keeper collided, allowing the pass to turn into a shot and a goal.
Rollins only had one more chance to score in the 83rd minute.
Emma Griner entered a free kick into the box, but Mellett's header was calmly swallowed up by Kaitlin Sinkler for the save. From there, the Panthers ran out the clock to hold on for the win.
The game was about even as they come. Tech had the shot advantage by one, 16-15, and the shot on goal advantage by two, 9-7. Mehos had seven saves for the Tars compared to six for Sinkler. The Tars had six corners to the Panthers' four, and each team was whistled for 14 fouls.
It is unlikely that the Tars will earn an at-large bid for the NCAA tournament, but the official notice will be given on Monday, November 17 during the NCAA Selection show at 6:00 pm.
