via press release – photo by Amanda Stratford Photography   MELBOURNE, Fla. (Men’s Lacrosse) – After dropping three of its previous four contests on the road, a return to Florida Tech Panther Stadium seemed to be all that the Panthers (6-4, 1-1 SSC) needed to get back on track, as they registered their best performance so far this season in knocking off No. 19 Saint Leo (7-3, 1-1 SSC) 13-11 on Friday night. With the result, Florida Tech improves to 3-2 all-time against their Sunshine State Conference foe, while also posting the first home victory by either team in the series. Jason Terry led all players with four goals while Brian Bacarellaand Tyler Covey each tallied a hat trick in the win. Austen Zugelter, Nick Brown and Matt Weinstein scored one goal apiece, and Cody Martin picked up two assists. Mike Cherry led the Panther defense with three ground balls and two caused turnovers, while Addison Abramson added two caused turnovers to go along with one ground ball and one assist. Travis Wunder went 13-of-26 at the faceoff dot and finished with a game-high 10 ground balls, and Ryan Land won both of his draws in the game. Christian Koch had a brilliant performance in goal for FIT, making 14 saves to improve his season mark to 4-4. The Panthers opened the contest by scoring three of the first four goals of the game, including two unassisted tallies by Bacarella, to take a 3-1 advantage into the second. Following a short lightning delay, Charlie Kurtenbach cut the deficit to 3-2 with his goal just 1:16 into the second period. Terry’s score on a drive around the cage increased FIT’s lead back 4-2 however the Lions would score two more the remainder of the half to tie the game at 4-4 at halftime. Covey and SLU’s Chad Marino exchanged the first four goals of the second half to keep the game even at 6-6 at the 10:12 mark of the third period. Consecutive tallies by Dylan Yonts handed the Lions their first lead of the ball game, 8-6, with 7:56 remaining in the third. However, from there the Panthers scored four of the next five goals to take a 10-9 edge into the final frame. Jake Gilmour evened the game at 10-10 just 20 seconds into the fourth quarter but FIT would quickly respond with three goals over the next three minutes, including the eventual game-winner by Zugelter with 13:42 remaining, to garner a 13-10 advantage. Scharr’s man-up goal with over five minutes left was the final tally of the game as FIT held off the Lions in the waning moments to earn its first conference victory of the season. The Panthers’ won despite having fewer shots (37-36) and ground balls (31-30), and more turnovers (21-17), than SLU. Florida Tech did, however, finish with a narrow margin in faceoffs won (15-13) as the Panthers outmatched the Lions’ 4^th-ranked faceoff specialist, Will Cothron, who went 11-for-23 on draws. Yonts and Marino paced the Lions with three goals and an assist apiece. Kurtenbach recorded two goals and Gilmour added a goal and an assist. Scharr scored once and dished out a game-high three assists. Dave Moore (7-3) made seven saves in goal for Saint Leo. The Panthers continue SSC-play on Wednesday, April 6 when they host 3^rd-ranked Tampa at 7 p.m. ET at Florida Tech Panther Stadium. Fans can access live coverage of Panther home games at FloridaTechSports.com/live.   Box Score: http://www.floridatechsports.com/mlacrosse/boxscore/2015-16/5417/19-saint-leo-vs-florida-tech-04-01-2016/ 2016 Schedule: http://www.floridatechsports.com/mlacrosse/schedule/ 2016 Roster: http://www.floridatechsports.com/mlacrosse/roster/   Daniel Supraner Assistant Director of Athletic Communications Florida Tech Athletics 150 W. University Blvd. Melbourne, Fla. 32901 Work: 321-674-7484 Fax: 321-984-8529