TAMPA, Fla. (Women’s Soccer) – No. 22 Tampa defeated Florida Tech, 4-1, in the second meeting of the season on Saturday at Pepin Stadium. The Spartans scored two goals in each half to take the conference match and split the season series.

Florida Tech (5-4-2, 1-3-2 SSC) led the first half in shots over Tampa (10-3, 5-1 SSC), 7-6, but it was the Spartans who struck twice in the first 45.

“We had some mental breakdowns on Tampa’s first three goals,” head coach Fidgi Haig said. “We did enough to stay in the game and compete, but the mistakes cost us a chance to win. We will put this game behind us and focus on our next game.”

The Spartans scored its opening two goals in a span of 1:40 on the game clock. Gabby Russo scored the game’s first goal in the 20th minute, and then Cici Gonzalez extended Tampa’s lead to 2-0 just 100 seconds later.

Tampa extended its lead to 4-0 in the second half in the 79th minute.

The Panthers got on the board in the 86th minute on an unassisted goal by Brittany Comeau, her first of the season.

FIT returns home on Saturday, Oct. 13 when it hosts Lynn at 1 p.m. Live stats and audio will be available at www.FloridaTechSports.com/live.