thanks to Daniel Supraner, Assistant Director of Athletic Communications – Florida Tech Athletics for this press release   FIT looks to turn the tides after dropping consecutive games MELBOURNE, Fla. (Women’s Lacrosse) – Florida Tech (4-4) prepares for its first road matchup of the season as it travels to Belmont, North Carolina to face the Belmont Abbey Crusaders (5-3) at 12 p.m. on Saturday at Alumni Field. The Panthers head into their contest with the Crusaders after dropping consecutive games for the first time all season. FIT was defeated by the University of Bridgeport Purple Knights 15-13 on Wednesday at Disney’s ESPN Wide World of Sports. Bridgeport found the back of the net early and often against Florida Tech, scoring eight of the first nine goals of the game en route to a 10-4 lead into halftime. FIT opened the second half on fire, tallying eight of the first nine goals to take its first lead of the game at 12-11 with 14:36 remaining. The Purple Knights stopped the Panthers with their own four goal run to push the game out of reach as time ran out for the Panthers. Sara Grenier paced FIT with three goals and one assist, while Caroline Dunleavy and Heather Molander each registered a hat trick. Allie Modica added two goals for the Panthers and Mary Gormley finished with one goal and one assist. Belmont Abbey is also coming off consecutive losses after dropping its last game to the Indiana (Pa.) Hawks 12-11. The Crusaders jumped out early, taking a 7-2 lead before allowing the Hawks to score the final three goals to head into halftime with Belmont Abbey ahead 7-5. Indiana tied the game at 10-10 but Belmont Abbey answered to take the lead with five minutes remaining. The Hawks tied the game at 11-11 with just over two minutes remaining, then fired in the game winner with 1.1 seconds left on the clock to steal the game from the Crusaders. MacKenzie Miller paced the Crusaders with three goals, while Shanin Darly finished with two goals and one assist. Katy Connery and Rebecca Stromberg added two goals apiece in the loss. The Panthers and Crusaders have faced a common opponent this season, the University of Virginia-Wise. Florida Tech routed the Cavaliers 20-2 on March 7 before Belmont Abbey defeated them 15-1 on March 11.   Live coverage, if available, can be found at FloridaTechSports.com.   2015 Schedule: http://www.floridatechsports.com/wlacrosse/schedule/ 2015 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