Above – Big 6’8″ transfer Jason Terry scored 5 goals in his Florida Tech debut – Photo Courtesy of Ryan Seeloff. MELBOURNE, Fla. (Men’s Lacrosse) – The Florida Tech (1-0) men’s lacrosse team held off a furious second half comeback to win its 2015 season opener on Friday night in their first-ever game at Palm Bay High School’s Pirate Stadium. The Panthers took an early 9-0 lead then fought off Tusculum College (0-1) to win 13-11. Junior Jason Terry led FIT’s offense with five goals, two coming in the fourth quarter to help secure the victory for the Panthers. Terry was happy that he was able to make an impact for the team in his first game in almost two years. “It felt good to come out and contribute early for the team,” he said. “I didn’t want to let this win get away from us.” Senior Zach Wynne contributed two goals and two assists for his team, while his brother, Nick Wynne, dished out three assists. Senior Andrew Conley and sophomore Charlie Morrisette each scored two goals Friday night. Christian Isola and Austen Zugetter finished with one goal and one assist, a piece. FIT went up 5-0 in the first quarter with the help of two goals from Morrisette. In the second quarter, the Panthers added to their run by scoring four more unanswered goals, two coming from Terry to go up 9-0. With four minutes remaining in the half, the Pioneers stopped FIT’s run, and answered with three consecutive goals of their own to end the first half down 9-3. Tusculum continued its great play and scored four consecutive goals to start the second half, decreasing the Panthers lead to 9-7. The teams traded goals the rest of the game and with 3:21 remaining in the fourth quarter, the Pioneers brought FIT’s lead to only one goal 12-11. With 1:49 left in the game, Terry scored his fifth goal of the game on an extra-man opportunity to seal the victory for the Panthers. For Tusculum, Nate Wade led the way with three goals, followed by Chris Ryan with two goals. Andrew Kransberger finished with one goal and two assists. Kevin Haggerty played well in goal for the Pioneers, recording 14 saves. Travis Wunder won 19-of-28 face-offs and led the Panthers with seven groundballs and Eric Biller registered 13 saves in goal. This was the first ever game between Florida Tech and Tusculum, which is in its second year as a program. Head coach Ryan McAleavey hopes to build off this victory for the rest of the season. “This game was probably the most valuable game we could have all year,” says McAleavey. “We went up a couple goals early and we just let our guard down. They’re a good team, and we can’t give any team a break especially in this conference. We need to stay on the gas and keep fighting.” FIT will go on the road for its next two games. The team plays at Lenoir-Rhyne on Feb. 14 and at Mars Hill on Feb. 16. The team’s next home game is on March 2 against Mount Olive at 7 p.m. at Palm Bay High School’s Pirate Stadium.