thanks to Daniel Supraner, Assistant Director of Athletic Communications – Florida Tech Athletics for this press release   FIT looks for first-ever win against Florida Southern on Saturday night MELBOURNE, Fla. (Men’s Lacrosse) – Florida Tech (10-2, 2-1 SSC) will honor its first graduating class of seniors on Saturday night before its matchup with Florida Southern (6-7, 2-2 SSC) at 7 p.m. ET at Palm Bay High School’s Pirate Stadium. Twelve Panthers will be recognized on Senior Night, including eight members of head coach Ryan McAleavey’s first recruiting class. The ceremony is set to begin prior to the opening faceoff at 6:30 p.m. ET. “I don’t know if these kids understand how much I love them,” said McAleavey. “They believed in me enough to come here and helped build this with me. We had 19 freshmen our first year, got whooped up on that year and I tried to make it as fun as possible. I can still tell you who scored our first goal as a program, our second goal and our first win. To see these kids grow has been the best part. Wins and losses, they’re great and all, but to see what these guys have become is just tremendous. It makes this experience so much easier for me, it’s just amazing.” FIT is fresh off a road victory against Lynn University, 11-8, on April 3 in Boca Raton, Florida. The Panthers were up 3-1 after the first quarter but three unanswered goals in the second quarter lifted the Fighting Knights into the lead heading into halftime. Florida Tech came out firing in the third quarter, outscoring Lynn 6-2 to take a 9-6 advantage into the final period. The Fighting Knights decreased the Panthers lead to 10-8 with less than two minutes remaining, but junior Jason Terryscored on an open goal with 32 seconds left on the clock to secure FIT’s second conference win this season. Senior Andrew Conley paced Florida Tech with two goals and two assists, while sophomore Charlie Morrisette recorded a hat trick in the victory over Lynn. Junior Nick Wynne added one goal and two assists and sophomore Travis Wunder won 11-of-20 faceoffs and finished with a team-high five ground balls. Florida Southern defeated Saint Leo 11-10 in its last game on April 4 in Saint Leo, Florida. The victory over the Lions increases the Moccasins win streak to three games after earning victories over Adams St. (21-15) and Queens (10-6) in their two previous contests. Florida Southern is led by the nation’s top goal scorer in Dane Sorenson who has 46 tallies and 53 points on the season. Cody Dyer is second on the team with 51 points on 31 goals and 20 assists. The Moccasins are undefeated in three games against the Panthers, including an 18-13 win during the 2014 campaign. “This is a big game for us,” stated McAleavey. “We’re lucky we control our own destiny. If we win this game on Saturday, we clinch our first-ever appearance in the conference tournament. We had set high expectations for this team at the beginning of the year. We had a couple bumps in the road but we’ve worked through it. This team understands what’s at stake and we’re going to take it one game at a time.”   Live video, audio and stats for the Panthers’ matchup with the Mocs will be available at FloridaTechSports.com/live.   Live Video, Audio and Stats: http://www.floridatechsports.com/live 2015 Schedule: http://www.floridatechsports.com/mlacrosse/schedule/ 2015 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