MELBOURNE, Fla. (Women's Soccer) – The Florida Tech women's soccer team (6-3, 2-3 SSC) ended a three game losing skid in Sunshine State Conference play as the Panthers earned a 1-0 victory over the Lynn Fighting Knights (2-6, 0-4 SSC) Saturday night at Rick Stottler Field.
 
"I'm very proud of the team for grinding this game out. It was two evenly matched teams tonight. The most important thing we stressed all week was to roll with the punches and do what we had to do, even if it meant we had to grind it out just to get a conference win here at home," stated head coach Dustin Smith. "That's what we did tonight."
 
In a back-and-forth contest, both teams managed to finish with nine shots. The Panthers provided more of a challenge to LU goalkeeper Alexa Downie, though, as they placed eight of their shots on goal compared to Lynn's two.
 
The nine shots were the fewest in a game this season for FIT, and well below its average of 18.88 shots per game. Despite the low output, Smith was pleased with his team's overall performance against the Fighting Knights.
 
"Lynn has always been a tough game for us. They have a great coaching staff that is very organized and keeps its team disciplined. It was hard to break down their backlines tonight. I think late in the game we had a couple of opportunities that we could have capitalized on and done a little bit better.
 
"At the end of the day, though, it was probably not our best game on the field but Lynn had a lot to do with disrupting our play. However, the girls came out tonight and grinded out a victory and showed a lot of heart, and that's what it takes to win in this league."
 
In the 31st minute, Keira McCarthy collected a pass from Elin Svensson just inside the box and was fouled as she tried to dribble past her defender, earning FIT the penalty kick. The Melbourne product composed herself before the ensuing try and then fired in her team-leading seventh goal of the year for the eventual game winner.
 
Karlyn Prisco made two saves in the Panthers' goal and improved her record to 6-3, while also notching her fourth clean sheet of the season. Downie finished with seven saves for the Fighting Knights as her record dropped to 2-6.
 
Florida Tech resumes its non-conference slate next week when the team travels to Allendale, Michigan to square off with three-time defending NCAA DII National Champion, No. 1 Grand Valley State on Wednesday, Oct. 5 at 7 p.m. ET. Links to live coverage can be accessed at FloridaTechSports.com.