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Prospective player: the cat’s meow

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After not making the playoffs this past season, the Florida Tech basketball is looking for potentially the most radical and ferocious change in program history.

Percy the Panther has been tearing through the blacktops of Florida, dominating the court with his physical style of play and lightning-quick reflexes.

Streetballer and former opponent of Percy, Bobby Smitty, said he’s never seen anything quite like him.

Percy stands on a hardwood court for the first time, taking in the beauty. Photo by Pete the Panther.

“That cat is the quickest thing I have ever seen,” Smitty said. “And he can even make jump shots, it’s incredible to watch.”

Percy has no known owner or caretaker and got his name from the book “Percy Jackson & The Lightning Thief” because of his uncanny ability to strike like lightning, according to Smitty.

Florida Tech first heard about him from our resident mascot, Pete the Panther.

In an exclusive interview being published on April 31, Pete disclosed that Percy has always dreamed of playing on a hardwood court, having his own jersey and hearing the crowd cheer his name.

Pete recently used his connections with the basketball program to set up a formal meeting and workout.

“They really need to see him in person to find out if he’s a legitimate baller or not,” Pete said.

Percy will be greeted like any other recruit when he comes to display his fourlegged dexterity on May 32.

Smitty said he thinks Florida Tech would be foolish not to offer Percy a scholarship.

“He may be just a large cat, but he’s got more skills than any human player I have ever seen,” Smitty said.

Florida Tech Endgame – Thanos targets athletics

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After Thanos acquired the Infinity Gauntlet and snapped away half the population, he decided to endeavor on a new quest: getting rid of Florida Tech’s athletic teams.

The Mad Titan arrived on campus in Februrary.

Thanos walking about on the tennis courts. Photo captured by Bill Jurgens.

The men’s and women’s tennis teams and the women’s golf team have already fallen victim to his scheme.

While Thanos’ exact plans remain unclear, he has revealed that he is working closely with the athletic department to take out certain teams.

He said with help from the inside, soon the department will have just the right number of programs.

“When I’m done, half of athletics will still exist,” Thanos said. “Perfectly balanced, as all things should be.”

The discontinuation of the tennis and women’s golf teams has taken away the fun for many student athletes, as they worry they’ll be turned into dust next.

For Thanos, this wasn’t a concern when he made the decision to snap them out of existence.

“Fun isn’t something one considers when balancing the universe,” he said. “But this does put a smile on my face.”

A group of athletes who wish to remain anonymous said they tried fending off Thanos.

However, their efforts proved futile.

When athletes began hurling various types of balls and other equipment at him, Thanos reportedly dodged them easily.

One athlete threw a football at his chest, but Thanos simply brushed it off and said, “You should have gone for the head.”

Before leaving the scene of the battle, Thanos told the athletes they were strong but warned them that he could snap his fingers and they’d all cease to exist.

The athletes said they won’t give up fighting, although they plan to begin working with engineering students to create a new weapon. They are calling themselves “The Revengers.”

Bill Jurgens, the athletic director, declined an interview, stating he had “greater goals to accomplish.”

Suspicious jars full of dust have begun to collect in his office.

The last moment of the Florida Tech men’s and track’s teams posing before disappearing from existence. Photo by The Revengers.

Thanos said in his quest to balance the athletic programs, he has received quite a bit of backlash.

However, he said this will not deter him from his quest.

“I know what it’s like to lose,” he said. “To feel so desperately that you’re right, yet to fail nonetheless. Dread it. Run from it. Destiny still arrives. Or should I say, I have.”

While he doesn’t regret his decision to begin removing certain teams in his pursuit of balancing the athletic programs (and the universe), he said of the teams he has sacrificed, “I hope they remember you.”

Men’s lacrosse overcomes hot start by Rollins

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In the largest comeback in program history, Florida Tech men’s lacrosse fought back from an 8-0 deficit to hand the Rollins College Tars a 17-16 defeat.

This was the Panthers’ first game of the season against a fellow Sunshine State Conference opponent.

They improved to a 5-1 score on the season and 1-0 in the conference play.

Midfielder Reid Chaconas led the way for Florida Tech with four goals and an assist.

Three other midfielders, Brett Pohlmeyer, Logan Sweeney and Justin Williams, each added two goals and an assist.

Midfielder Tommy Bowser added a goal and two assists of his own, as Attacker Brad Schillinger tacked on another two goals.

Rollins started the scoring early, giving the Tars a 1-0 lead just 49 seconds into the game.

They continued their scoring barrage with seven more unanswered goals, giving them an eight-goal cushion with 9:35 to go in the second quarter.

The Panthers finally responded with 8:52 left in the second quarter, as Schillinger scored his ninth goal of the season.

The Tars reacted quickly, though, making the score 9-1 and pushing the lead back to eight.

After back-to-back goals by Chaconas, the Panthers narrowed the Tars lead to six.

Before halftime, the Panthers scored three straight goals by Pohlmeyer, midfielder Bryce Johnson and defensive midfielder Tyler Oblong.

Rollins responded with a goal, making the score 10-7 heading into halftime.

Schillinger started the scoring in the second half, followed by another goal by Pohlmeyer, making the score 10-9.

After the Tars and Panthers traded goals for most of the second half, Florida Tech was able to build a three-point lead.

This was soon reduced to just a one-point difference after the Tars scored consecutive goals.

The score now stood at 16-15 in the Panthers’ favor with 5:42 to go.

Chaconas then scored his fourth goal of the game, but a little over two minutes later, Rollins was able to counter attack.

It ultimately proved to be too little too late for the Tars, as Florida Tech retained their lead for the last 1:32 of the game, securing their fifth victory of the season.

The Panthers take on another SSC opponent Wednesday, March 27, against the University of Tampa Spartans.

Start time is set for 8 p.m. at the Naimoli Family Athletic Complex in Tampa, Florida.

Two Florida Tech athletes break major career records

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Junior forward Derek Murphy (left), Senior pitcher Melanie Murphy (right). Pictures by Florida Tech Athletics.

Derek Murphy and Melanie Murphy are not related but they do share a commonality: setting first time career college goals in their athletic experiences.

On Feb. 23, women’s softball senior pitcher Melanie Murphy pitched her first career perfect game against No. 3 North Georgia.

On Feb. 27, men’s basketball junior forward Derek Murphy scored a career high 40 points against Lynn University on senior night.

“[Getting 40 points] is definitely something that I wanted to say I’ve done,” Derek Murphy said. “There’s not too many people that have done that in college basketball period.”

“After seeing him score 36 points two times the way he did within like two weeks, I knew he was bound to score 40 sooner or later,” said Trey Schaneville, freshman guard for Florida Tech men’s basketball.

Derek Murphy’s previous career high was 36 points, which he made twice this year, first against Barry University on Feb. 2 and then Saint Leo University on Feb. 13.

Due to his success on the court, Derek Murphy is the Sunshine State Conference scoring champion, averaging 23.1 points per game.

He was third in the conference in rebounds per game (8.2), second in total defensive rebounds (160), selected as a two-time Sunshine State Player of the Week and three-time Erdman Automotive Male Athlete of the Week.

Derek Murphy was selected to the All-SSC second team on March 7. Players that are selected are voted on by the league’s coaches.

Melanie Murphy has made accomplishments this semester as well.

“Pitching a perfect game feels amazing and to know I did it against a ranked three team makes this that much sweeter,” Melanie Murphy said.

Melanie Murphy said that she only made five of the outs on her own.

The other 16 outs were executed by the help of her teammates.

Her perfect pitched game is the first time for Florida Tech women’s softball since Feb. 1, 2014.

Due to her perfect pitched game and her performances throughout the DII Florida Tech Invitational, Melanie Murphy was announced as the SSC Pitcher of the Week.

This is her first honor of this award this year.

However, it is the second time in her career.

“Being recognized as SSC Pitcher of the Week is great and I hope there’s more to come, but I’m more focused on just winning games we play because that’s ultimately the number one goal,” Melanie Murphy said. “The rest that follows those wins is just icing on the cake.”

Melanie Murphy’s teammates are also feeling the rush of her accomplishments.

“As a catcher, it was an amazing experience to be behind the plate to catch Melanie’s perfect game,” said Vanessa Rubio, junior catcher/in fielder for Florida Tech women’s softball. “The entire game it was on my mind, and as the game started to wind down, I just kept thinking it was going to happen and it did.”

Rubio explained how the connection she and Melanie share as a pitcher/catcher duo is very key.

They have to always be on the same page with everything that goes on and she said that they’ve done a pretty good job of that this far into the season and that they’ll only get better.

Although Derek Murphy and the men’s basketball season is over, Melanie Murphy and the women’s softball season is still going.

Softball has their next game against Embry-Riddle on March 15 at 4 p.m. in Daytona.

Women’s lacrosse cruises past Fighting Scots

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Florida Tech’s Women Lacrosse team easily defeated Edinboro University, 19-6 on March 8.

The Panthers outscored the Fighting Scots 11-2 in the second half, vaulting them to the victory.

Senior attacker, Leah Dunn, led Florida Tech’s offense with three goals and four assists.

Junior midfielder, Mollie Kaplan, tallied a team-high five goals.

She contributed an assist for the game.

Senior defender, Brittney Embree, finished the game with a new program single game record.

Embree caused seven caused turnovers against Edinboro, the previous record held at six.

Senior Sam Schiano tacked on four of her own goals, along with two goals each from freshman Kailee O’Brien and freshman Lexi Woviotis.

At the start of the game Edinboro scored the first goal, just 42 seconds into the match.

Florida Tech rallied back with two straight goals, taking a 2-1 lead with 25:34 left in the first half.

The Fighting Scots tied the game at two a piece just a little over a minute later.

The Panthers had a strong retaliation though, scoring four consecutive goals, making the score 6-2.

Edinboro did added two more goals before halftime, but Dunn and Woviotis also found the back of the net, making the score 8-4 after the first half.

O’Brien got the second half going for the Panthers with her first goal of the match. 28 seconds later the Fighting Scots answered with a goal to make it 9-5.

Quickly, O’Brien scored her second goal less than a minute later.

Kaplan shortly after made her third goal to make it a six point game, 11-5 with less then 22 minutes remaining.

This offensive momentum continued from there for the Panthers, outscoring Edinboro 8-1 for the remainder of the game.

This explosive second have solidified Florida Tech’s second straight win and makes their season record 4-3.

They played Slippery Rock University March 11 and will visit Florida Southern University to take on the Mocs on Saturday, March 16.

Men’s lacrosse showcases program in new documentary

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Promotional material for “On the Prowl.” The lacrosse team documentary had input from their alumni, players and coaches, the team effort resulting in a 28 minute documentary. Photo by Florida Tech Men’s Lacrosse.

The Florida Tech men’s lacrosse team released a new documentary last month showcasing their fall season.

“On The Prowl” is a 28-minute documentary that shows the different aspects in the sport, including practices, games and scrimmages.

The documentary was released on YouTube on Feb. 14, with a screening open to the public at Gleason Performing Arts Center the day before.

Nick Bailey, a communications alumni, edited the video as a side project while he worked at the Florida Tech athletics department.

“It was something I wanted to do, even though I had no experience in working a documentary by myself before,” Bailey said. “Pretty much I would leave my job at Florida Tech and go film the lacrosse team.”

Bailey transferred to Florida Tech in the fall of 2015 and played lacrosse in the spring 2018 semester, and graduated in the previous fall semester.

Addison Abramson, construction management senior, and Tyler Oblong, business administration seniors, were the producers of the documentary and planned the idea with Bailey last summer.

“It made me really excited to get involved,” said Abramson. “We finished it the exact way we hoped about it.”

Bailey said that the whole team, including Coach Mark Penn, was on board with the idea at the start of the season.

“I wanted to showcase the program and expose the name of Florida Tech men’s lacrosse in the area,” said Bailey, describing the idea for the documentary. “I wanted to do something like that in the past, though I was busy with lacrosse and classes. I talked to the coach and [Addison and Tyler] and we started planning in July for the video.”

Penn became head coach in the fall 2018 season after serving as an assistant coach and defensive coordinator for five seasons from 2014 to 2018.

“I loved the idea from the start, having a former past with the television industry. I got excited,” Penn said.

Before coaching, Penn worked in the television industry for 11 years for a sports network in Washington.

The idea was inspired by a documentary done by Tufts University in 2015, according to Abramson.

“They wanted to make something more artsy flavored, more music drive with different camera tech,” Penn said. “And they knocked it out of the park.”

As the season went on, Bailey filmed most of the footage with additional help from Charlie Morissette for drone footage, as well as Ryan Land and Will Eredeck, all of them lacrosse members.

“From day one, being out there on the field, everyone was like ‘Wow, this is different, there’s a camera on my face,’” Bailey said. “People were weirded out and the best thing I told them was to ignore me and go along. As they got more comfortable around the camera, we got to see more of their personalities and excitement while playing lacrosse.”

The men’s lacrosse team was the first team in Division II that filmed a documentary.

“It was made by a bunch of people considered as amateurs, but it turned out to be professional work,” Abramson said. “Everyone was blown away by it.”

As his first season as head coach, the documentary Lacrosse continued showcased Penn’s coach ethics and training in the program, as well being the opening interview.

“It’s really cool to see something that’s unique and can capsulize the moments of the team being enthusiastic of lacrosse,” Penn said. “It’s a great tool as a coach to reflect on that enthusiasm and didn’t realize how much I would be in it.”

Alongside Bailey and his equipment, the lacrosse team reached out to Florida Tech Video Productions to record the interviews in their studio and borrowed their equipment.

Bailey says that the contribution of FITV was a tremendous help in filming the interview scenes for the film.

“They were super awesome and the documentary wouldn’t have been possible without them,” Bailey said. “There were three or four guys that took their time out of their days to help us out without wanting to get paid.”

After posting the documentary online, Penn received a lot of feedback from alumni and other coaches in the lacrosse sport around the country, as well as recruiters interested in Florida Tech.

“I was overwhelmed by the amount of feedback and got recruiting interest immediately,” Penn said. “I hope the school sees this as a good way to represent ourselves in the variety of athletics.”

When discussing about plans for future media content, Abramson hopes for more media content for the lacrosse team’s social media.

“Nick was the best filmer that the team ever had,” Abramson said. “Replacing him is gonna be a hard challenge for us.”

With the boost publicity from the documentary, the team became the second most followed team on Twitter and Instagram in division II.

Penn is open to the idea of creating another documentary about the games of the Spring 2019 season.

“I think you can make a different, unique perspective every season; though ours inspires people to do other types of things,” Penn said. “I hope somebody else would something like it because it was the student-driven style that gave it the unique spin.”

The documentary was featured on Florida Tech Sports and can be viewed below this article.

Cheer and dance teams take home awards and experience

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Florida Tech’s cheer and dance teams competed at the 2019 Universal Cheer Association and Dance Team National Championship Jan. 18 through Jan. 20.

The dance team competed in the “open palm” competition, while the cheer team participated in the “D2 small co-ed” competition.

Cheer made it to finals for the first round and then were ranked sixth in the nation.

Head coach Alexa Flutie-Sumner said this was the cheer team’s second year competing.

“They got presented a trophy,” Flutie-Sumner said. “We are now nationally ranked, so we’re very excited about that.”

Flutie-Sumner said the dance team did well but had a lot more competition than the cheer team.

“My dance team is still new, too,” Flutie-Sumner said. “We’re still developing it. But they scored a 93 in their score sheets, which is very exceptional. However, we did not make it to finals and we did not get ranked.”

The dance team’s score went up by 15 points from last year, according to Flutie-Sumner.

“We had a lot of technical style of dance this year,” Flutie-Sumner said, “which we haven’t in the past, which really increased our score.”

Flutie-Sumner said cheer competed against about 13 other teams and dance competed against 16.

Amber Palmer, a graduated psychology major and cheerleader, said it was “one of the best feelings” when it was announced they made it to the finals and then were ranked sixth in the nation.

“Our entire team went crazy, and I even cried because we had come so far and worked so hard,” Palmer said. “There’s really no better feeling than your hard work paying off and accomplishing so many goals as a team.”

Juliana Burgos, a senior studying chemical engineering and an original member of Florida Tech’s dance team, said they put on their best dance performance to date at the competition.

“When the dance team started it was more about figuring out how to integrate ourselves into the school and create the foundation for future years,” Burgos said. “Now we have amazing opportunities like competing at UDA College Nationals.”

The practices leading up to the UDA and UCA College Nationals were difficult, according to Palmer.

“We had practice almost every day for the entire two weeks before competition, and each would last anywhere from three to six hours,” Palmer said.

The dance team’s practices leading up to the competition were focused on performance and energy, according to Burgos.

Palmer said her time on the cheer team wasn’t always easy, but it was worth it.

“Overall, my experience has been great,” Palmer said. “I’ve learned so much from my coach and made some lifelong friends.”