MELBOURNE, Fla. - No. 5 Florida Tech (9-0) continued its winning ways on Friday evening, defeating non-conference foe Lenoir-Rhyne (2-6) by the score of 16-5 at Panther Stadium.
 
The victory extends the Panthers' current impressive win streaks, as FIT has now won 18 in a row against out of conference opponents and 15 straight at home.
 
Leah Dunn paced the Crimson and Gray with a career-high six goals on just six shots. The junior also recorded four ground balls and a caused turnover in the win.
 
Sam Schiano tallied three goals and an assist and led FIT with eight ground balls, seven draw controls and six caused turnovers. Mollie Kaplan netted a hat trick to go along with six ground balls and two caused turnovers. The Panthers' leading scorer, Sara Grenier, added two goals and an assist and Lauren Tybor recorded one goal and one assist.
 
Haley Heggblod and Allie Wood gathered four ground balls apiece and combined for three caused turnovers. Stephanie Stuart finished with seven saves, while allowing five goals, and improved her season mark to 9-0.
 
Florida Tech dominated Lenoir-Rhyne in both shots, 41-13, and ground balls, 43-27, while collecting one more draw control than the Bears, 12-11.
 
Dunn and LRU's Gabby Sousa, who led her team with four goals, exchanged the first four goals of the game as the teams were tied 2-2 with 17:05 left in the first half.
 
Dunn's third goal of the game kicked off a 6-0 run that gave the Panthers an 8-2 advantage with 26:34 remaining in the contest. After Sousa tallied her third goal, FIT rattled off a 5-0 run over a four minute span and grabbed a 13-3 edge with 19:34 to go.
 
Sousa scored on a free position attempt to cut the Bears' deficit to nine with 14:53 left but the Panthers answered with three of the final four goals of the game, two by Grenier, and cruised to their seventh home victory of the season.
 
Florida Tech will now prepare for one of the biggest games in program history next Saturday, Mar. 24, as the Panthers open Sunshine State Conference play by hosting top-ranked Florida Southern at 4 p.m. at Panther Stadium.
 
The contest will be the first Top-5 showdown in the women's lacrosse team's history. Fans can access live coverage of the bout at FloridaTechSports.com/live.