MELBOURNE, Fla. – The No. 10 Florida Tech women's lacrosse team (1-2) dropped a 15-9 decision to No. 2 Adelphi (1-0) in the Crimson & Gray's home opener Thursday at Panther Stadium.
 
Alexis Townsend paced Tech with five points on two goals and three assists. Sam Schiano recorded her third straight hat trick to start the season, while also collecting six draws, five caused turnovers, and three ground balls. Leah Dunn and Aleah Fjelstad contributed two goals, apiece. 
 
Brittney Embree guided the Panther defense with four caused turnovers and two ground balls. Olivia Going produced four ground balls and two caused turnovers. Chloe Zador made six saves in goal while her record falls to 1-2 on the year.
 
Schiano got Florida Tech on the board first in the game on a free position attempt with 26:39 left in the first half. Adelphi answered with seven straight scores, including three goals by Kole Pollock, to grab a six-goal advantage with 10:51 left before halftime. 

Consecutive tallies by Schiano and Townsend, over a 27-second span, trimmed Tech's margin to 7-3 at the 5:39 mark of the half. The score remained the same as the teams went into the halftime break. 

Schiano and Townsend connected for the first goal of the second half to cut the deficit down to 7-4 with more than 27 minutes to go.
 
Later in the half, Fjelstad's second free position goal brought Tech to within two of Adelphi, 9-7, with 18:40 remaining. However, AU quickly responded with goals by Lena Riportella and Alyssa Gillespie to make it a four-goal game, again. 
 
Adelphi continued to grow its lead in the second half, as it scored four of the next five goals and jumped ahead, 15-8, with 3:39 left in the game.
 
Dunn's free position goal, off an assist from Townsend, cut the margin down to six. However, it was too little too late as Adelphi went on to win by a six-goal margin. 
 
AU concluded the matchup with an advantage in shots, 27-18, and draw controls, 17-9, while Tech picked up more ground balls, 23-20.
 
Florida Tech is back in action at Panther Stadium on Monday, Feb. 25, for the Panthers' matchup against Davenport at 7 PM.

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