Panthers Lose Heartbreaker to Sharks

MELBOURNE, Fla. (Men’s Soccer) – In a physical game that many thought the Panthers
would take late into the match, Florida Tech fell to the Sharks of Nova Southeastern University by a score of 3-2 to bring their record to 3-9-2 and 2-5-1
in the Sunshine State Conference.   Nova scored early in the first half with a goal by Romain Onteniente late in the 17th minute. The Panthers,
however, led in shots in the first period by 9-2 and controlled the ball for most of the half.   Florida Tech came out of the break with a renewed
vigor that would see them tie the match. Barely in the third minute of the second half, freshman forward Carl Sullivan scored his third goal of
the season. Freshman defender Caleib
Lynch dribbled into the corner and lost the ball under pressure. But in a great recovery, he tackled the shark and passed the ball to Sullivan
who lofted a high shot that dropped in just over the Nova keeper for the first Panther goal of the match.   Not long after, sophomore forward
Nicolás Garcia put in
the second goal for Tech to finish a nicely developed play for the Panthers. Senior defender Don Rhoads brought the ball up the right
side of the field and passed to freshman midfielder Miguel Martes. Martes put a well-placed
pass at the feet of Garcia who scored in the one-on-one with just 23:55 left. The Shark keeper had no chance of stopping the goal.   In the 77th
minute, the Sharks began to rally. Nova Shark Aly Hassan kicked a high kick that just snuck past junior goalkeeper Cory Collins off the cross bar to tie
the match. With just 1:02 left in the match, Hassan scored his second goal of the match with a header off Onteniente’s corner kick.   With less than
40 seconds left in the match, the Panthers were fouled just outside the box and granted a free kick. Junior midfielder Ryan Hagerty took the free kick for a
shot and missed just high of the goal. With that, the Panthers’ chances of postseason play were lost.   The Panther team also took time to honor this
season’s seniors at the beginning of the match: Rhoads, graduate student and forward Bello Illiassou, senior defender
Chad Mason, senior
defender Lindsay Allred
and senior midfielder Jared
Sampson.   BOX SCORE