GREENWOOD – Hosting a Tuesday matinee at Van Taylor Stadium in the vibrant sun, the No. 12/22 Lander women's lacrosse team continued its upward trend with a second straight ranked win over No. 20 Florida Tech by a 12-10 final.
The Bearcats (8-2) came out with a vengeance in the second half and erased an 8-5 halftime deficit by outscoring the Panthers 6-2 in the third quarter.
Mickey Burnett got it going less than a minute into the second half and was followed 30 seconds later by
Izzy Olson's successful free-position score to make it a one-goal game.
Florida Tech (4-6) netted two of the next three goals to restore a 10-8 lead but
Ella Benson – who had a career day with five goals and five points – trimmed the gap back to 10-9 with a shorthanded free-position goal.
Benson scored again with 3:44 left in the quarter, and
Kayla Smith added another from the free-position slot to give the Bearcats an 11-10 advantage heading into the fourth quarter.
Brooke Kelly added the insurance goal with 4:30 left off a feed from
Sophie Warren, who also added a goal and another assist for a three-point afternoon.
The Bearcat defense put the clamps down and held the Panthers scoreless over the final 25 minutes of the game.
Benson scored three of Lander's first-half goals with Warren and Burnett responsible for the others.
Olson collected a season high six draw controls while Kelly and
Autumn Huskey had four each – Huskey set a new season high in that category and also caused four turnovers and grabbed as many ground balls.
Jenna Paolozzi caused a season best three turnovers in the win.
Lander has a few days to prepare for its first Gulf South Conference game this season on Saturday (March 22). Game time versus Lee is scheduled for 3 p.m. at Van Taylor Stadium with a Senior Day ceremony taking place prior to the game.
(Rankings derived from USA Lacrosse Magazine and IWLCA Polls)
