via press release – photo via FIT web site   MELBOURNE, Fla. (Men’s Lacrosse) – Despite a strong first half performance, Florida Tech (1-3) was unable to hold off Mount Olive (3-0) on the road and fell to the 9^th-ranked Trojans 13-11 Saturday. Nick Wynne led FIT with a hat trick in the game and Austen Zugelter added two goals. Carson Clough finished with four points on a goal and three assists, while five other Panthers tallied goals in the loss. Lance Pavlina controlled the faceoff X going 15-of-22 and leading all players with 13 ground balls. Daniel Flock (1-3) took the defeat while making eight saves in goal. Florida Tech finished with more shots, 52-35, and ground balls, 35-22. Both teams ended with 10 turnovers apiece. The Panthers jumped out to a 3-0 lead just 4:18 into the game on goals by Reid Chaconas, Wynne, from Addison Abramson, and Charlie Morrisette, from Brett Pohlmeyer. UMO responded with three unassisted scores to tie the game at 3-3 with 4:39 left in the quarter. Zugelter gave FIT a one goal lead on his solo effort just before the end of the period. After the Trojans tied the game on a man-up goal by Jesse Mitchell, the Panthers tallied four straight goals, two on man-up opportunities, and grabbed an 8-4 edge with 7:48 remaining in the half. UMO’s Jacob Ball cut the deficit to three but Wynne answered off an assist by Clough, who had three points in the quarter, to give FIT a 9-5 lead at halftime. UMO scored the first three goals of the third quarter to decrease the margin to 9-8 at the 7:21 mark. However, just over a minute later, Clough found Zugelter for his second of the day to give FIT a two-goal edge heading into the fourth quarter. Following a UMO goal by Brett Kingston, Matt Weinstein tallied his only score of the game to push FIT’s lead back to two, 11-9, with 12:35 remaining. The Trojans then tied the game, 11-11, at the 8:53 mark of the quarter on consecutive goals by Ball. Kingston handed Mount Olive its first lead of the game, 12-11, on his man-up goal from Cody Graden with 6:01 left. FIT was unable to get back on the board, despite a number of quality opportunities in the waning moments. Austin Whitlow then iced the game for UMO on his unassisted effort with two seconds remaining to hand Florida Tech its third straight loss. The Panthers will look to bounce back when they welcome Wheeling Jesuit to Panther Field on Saturday, Mar. 4, for an 11 a.m. ET faceoff. Fans can access live coverage of the action at FloridaTechSports.com/live.