WINGATE, N.C. - No. 18 Florida Tech (0-1) dropped its season opener at No. 13 Wingate (1-0), 9-8, on Friday afternoon at Graham Gill Field.

Tajee Mobley led FIT with a pair of goals and Carson Clough recorded a team-high three points on a goal and two assists. Mason Ostrowski tallied a goal and an assist and Justin Williams dished out two assists.

Daniel Flock made 11 saves and allowed nine goals while facing 34 shots. Lance Pavlina won the faceoff battle, going 10-for-18 at the X with seven ground balls. 

The Bulldogs bested FIT in both shots, 34-27, and ground balls, 29-24, in the contest. 

WU's Alex Llerandi opened the scoring with an unassisted goal and then assisted teammate Gary Pierpont to give the Bulldogs a 2-0 edge with 7:23 to go in the first. 

Cole Evans' man-up goal cut the Panthers' deficit to one but the Bulldogs tacked on a pair of goals, the second by Llerandi to take a 4-1 lead at the 13:30 mark of the second. 

A three goal spurt by the Panthers, with tallies by Clough, Mobley and Brett Pohlmeyer, tied the game at 4-4 with 5:01 remaining in the first half. Seth Grimwood scored off an assist by Conor Gronbach to hand Wingate a 5-4 edge at halftime.

Mobley's second goal evened the game up at 5-5 early in the second half. Mason Ostrowski scored 1:13 later to give FIT its first lead of the contest, 6-5, with 11:50 to go in the third. Goals by Logan Sweeney and Reid Chaconas pushed the Panthers' lead to 8-5 with 4:26 left in the third. 

It looked as though FIT would take a three goal lead into fourth, but the Bulldogs netted a pair in the final 38 seconds of the third to cut the margin to one, 8-7.

Wingate continued the momentum into the final period, scoring two more goals in the fourth to escape with the one goal victory.

The men's lacrosse team is back in action on Sunday, Feb. 18, hosting Young Harris in Florida Tech's home opener. Start time for the game is set for 1 p.m. at Panther Stadium.