via press release – photo by Amanda Stratford Photography   CHARLES, Mo. (Women’s Lacrosse) – Playing in its first road game of the season, No. 20 Florida Tech (8-3) was unable to keep pace with 3^rd-ranked Lindenwood (10-0) in the first half and eventually lost to the undefeated Lions 17-8 Saturday night at Hunter Stadium. Mary Gormley paced the Panthers with three goals and an assist, in addition to collecting a team-high three draw controls.Sara Grenier recorded two goals and two draw controls, whileAllie Modica also had two goals to go along with two ground balls and three caused turnovers. Caroline Dunleavy scored one goal and Haley Heggblod picked up a team-high four ground balls and three caused turnovers. The Lions led 5-0 after the initial 10:06 of action with the first three goals coming on free position attempts. FIT got on the board with unassisted goals by Modica and Grenier to make it 5-2 with 18:32 left in the half. LU would outscore the Panthers by the same margin the rest of the frame to take a 10-4 advantage into the break. Maddi Ossello increased the Lion’s lead to seven goals with her tally at the 25:59 mark of the second half. Gormley would complete her hat trick four minutes later to get the deficit back to six, however LU answered with a 3-0 run to bring the score to 14-5 with 16:54 remaining. From there, the teams would exchange the final six goals, with Dunleavy, Grenier and Modica each recording one tally over the span. Despite the result, head coach Corinne Desrosiers was pleased with her team’s performance against a very talented Lions squad. “Overall, the girls played well tonight and for a full 60 minutes,” she stated. “We had a few unforced turnovers and they swept the ground ball category, which equals a lot of possessions for them, however we did create some havoc on defense and got a lot of good looks on offense tonight. The score truly didn’t dictate the tempo of the game. It was good lacrosse. Lindenwood is a top three team, and playing them helped make us that much better.” Lindenwood finished with more shots (31-22) and ground balls (27-13) however the Panthers won more draws (14-13) in the game. FIT struggled on its free position attempts, converting just 2-of-8, while the Lions went 5-for-9 on their opportunities. Rachel Benzing and Jordyn Constance led LU with four points on one goal and three assists apiece. Amanda Schimpke recorded a hat trick and a team-high four ground balls. Doughty tallied two goals and an assist while Allison Hurley added a goal and two assists. Seven other Lions combined for the team’s nine remaining goals. Molly Beckham had three ground balls and three caused turnovers. Stephanie Stuart (8-3) had a strong game in goal for Florida Tech. The sophomore made 10 saves, including three on Lions’ free position shots, while facing 27 total shots in the contest. In the other net, Delaney Solomon recorded eight saves for LU and improved to 5-0 on the season. Florida Tech resumes its road trip on Monday, March 28 when the Panthers square off with McKendree at 5 p.m. ET in Lebanon, Illinois. Fans can access live coverage of the contest at www.FloridaTechSports.com.   Box Score: http://www.floridatechsports.com/wlacrosse/boxscore/2015-16/5398/florida-tech-vs-3-lindenwood-03-26-2016/ 2016 Schedule: http://www.floridatechsports.com/wlacrosse/schedule/ 2016 Roster: http://www.floridatechsports.com/wlacrosse/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