One of the greatest bonds that sports ties together is the ability to create a family dynamic within a team, forging lifelong bonds between individuals who may have never met otherwise without the love for the game. One of Florida Tech's defining characteristics is its ability to bring students from all around the world together and create friendships that last a lifetime. Both such scenarios are happening right now, within the Panther women's lacrosse program.
 
For the past two seasons, sisters Millie Hurt and Phoebe Hurt have donned the Crimson and Gray while being regulars on the field. Millie, a recent graduate of Tech, spent the 2023 and 2024 seasons alongside her younger sister Phoebe, a midfielder for the Panthers. Next year however, Phoebe will switch roles from the youngest Hurt sister on the field to the oldest, as she will be joined by Ruby Hurt, the youngest of the three, come Fall of 2024.
 
For the three Hurt sisters, their journey to Tech all began overseas in Manchester, England at Bolton School.
 
"We all started playing in high school and in England, you start high school at the age of 11," Millie says. "It was the first time we ever picked up a lacrosse stick and, as you can imagine, the level in which we were playing was not very competitive, but it was an outlet and something that we saw could lead to more opportunities for us."
 
For Phoebe, the sport's limited profile was what encouraged her to stick with it.
 
"Because lacrosse isn't very popular in England, it made me more interested in learning about the sport," Phoebe says. "Outside of our high school I didn't have many friends who played, so I think being able to enjoy something different is what made me stick with it."
 
The three sisters quickly refined their skills and soon were able to play on an international level as Millie, Phoebe, and Ruby were all selected to play on the Wales Under 20 National Team. Although Millie last played for the national team at the age of 17, Phoebe and Ruby both represented Wales at the 2023 European Lacrosse Federation Championship games in Prague, Czech Republic. It's an honor that's not lost on the trio.
 
"I feel pride for every team I've played for, but Wales is like a different feeling," says Phoebe.
 
"Playing for Wales, I feel as if we're one massive family," Ruby adds.
 
As the time approached for Millie to further her education, she wanted to continue to play the sport she had grown to love. Her options felt limited until a fateful trip to Canada for an international tournament unlocked a door.
 
"I first heard about Florida Tech when I was playing in the 2019 [World Lacrosse Women's U19] World Championships," says the eldest sister. "I didn't think that it was an option to play in the States at that point in my career because I didn't know anyone who played overseas. After speaking to a couple of coaches, they recommended how to get my interest out there and reach out to coaches stating that I would want to play over here. Our former coach approached me about playing at Florida Tech and that's when it became very real. After I researched more about Tech, found out what the team culture was like, and saw the program's successful history, I went on a visit to the campus and saw firsthand the morale of the team, it was like a family to me already and I knew it was somewhere I wanted to spend the next four years of my life at."
 
Millie first came to Florida Tech in the fall of 2020 and went on to earn her degree in Biochemistry in May of 2024. Following her graduation, she accepted a job at SCIEX, a biotech company, as a Marketing Communications Specialist.
 
As Millie was establishing herself on campus, Phoebe, took notice of the opportunities in the biochemistry field that her sister was receiving, and having been recruited by other NCAA programs, she decided that she wasn't finished playing alongside her sister. With the familiarity of Melbourne and the Space Coast, the program's welcoming atmosphere ultimately was too much to overlook as she committed to attending Florida Tech.
 
As Phoebe followed in her older sister's footsteps in studying biochemistry, she was grateful to have someone close to her who could guide her both on and off the field.
 
"It's nice to have Millie here as an older sister," says Phoebe. "Sometimes, if I was ever missing home or needed someone to talk to, we could go out and get something to eat or I could just go to her apartment. That seemed to help me when I first came here, and I know that with me still here it will help Ruby as well."
 
Spending time in the Panthers' midfield before eventually shifting to more of a defensive role, Millie played in all 57 games during her four years for the Crimson and Gray, tallying 67 draw controls, 61 ground balls, 38 caused turnovers, 26 points, and 18 goals. Phoebe has similarly been an all-action midfielder during her first two seasons at Tech, registering 49 draw controls, 33 ground balls, 19 caused turnovers, and 10 points over 26 games. During a Panther victory at Palm Beach Atlantic on April 5, 2023, Millie recorded the assist on a goal for Phoebe.
 
With the conclusion of Millie's playing career, she mentioned how grateful she was for Florida Tech and just how many opportunities she has received for coming here that can prepare her for her future.
 
"I feel like I've received more opportunities by coming to Florida Tech than I would have at home, especially because I want to go into the biotech industry," says the oldest of the trio. "Having all these connections over here, it's just a bigger world over in the United States in terms of pharmaceuticals, biotech, and all the different types of medical fields in biology and science. I want to go into the business side of science. With my experiences here, I'm granted the opportunity to meet new people and go to events that I wouldn't have had the opportunity to if not for Florida Tech."
 
One of the many opportunities that Millie had worked for while at Tech included being able to intern at the company for which she recently began working for, SCIEX, having interned as a marketing communications specialist over the summer of 2023. There, she had the privilege of being involved with important board meetings discussing budgets, improvements, and goals for each month.
 
"My internship was marketing focused which provided me with unparalleled experience in the business side of the science field," Millie commented about her time with SCIEX.
 
"Even though my education in Biochemistry stimulates me to think strategically based upon quantitative and qualitative data, I know I will still have to use these as they are vital in the marketing field when developing campaigns."
 
When Florida Tech takes to the Rick Stottler Field turf again in 2025, so will the next generation of the Hurt family, when Ruby joins the program.
 
For Head Coach Kelsey Richardson, being a part of this team is just like a sisterhood. Having played with the three pairs of sisters while at Syracuse, the idea of a team as a family both metaphorically and literally is something Coach Richardson would like to see more of at Tech.
 
"I tell our team all the time, we want to have a family dynamic," Richardson says. "So, what better way to do that than by actually having sisters on the team? I think that provides an extra level of that "have your back" mentality. It also adds that extra level of entertainment because sometimes it's fun to have sisters on the team and see how they interact with one another and the team along with how they push one another on and off the field".
 
When asked about making the major transition of coming to the United States for the next step in her academic and athletic career, Ruby is not worried at all. Thanks to witnessing her sisters' experience of what all of that might entail.
 
"I feel like it's just as comfortable here as it is from home," says the youngest Hurt. "With Phoebe here, I know that I will always have someone to go to so that I can feel free to talk about any problems that I might have along the way."
 
For Coach Richardson, each of the sisters brings both tangible and intangible qualities to the program and as she reflects on her one year having coached Millie, she looks forward to what the younger of the sisters bring to the program.
 
"I would say Phoebe probably has the biggest fire in her in terms of aggressiveness on the field," Coach Richardson commented.  "Millie is the kid that you tell her to run through a wall and she'll say 'Which wall? What time? How hard?' She will do anything for the team and be the best player she can be. Then Ruby, coming in as a defender, her play style is a mixture of her two older sisters."
 
As one sister saw Florida Tech as a place of opportunities not only for her future career but in lacrosse as well, it didn't take much to see what the beautiful school in Melbourne, Florida had to offer as the Hurt sisters have and will continue to give it their all working to pursue future career opportunities and within the women's lacrosse program for what was once a life they didn't otherwise think was possible. Three sisters from the Northwest of England, traveling to the United States to receive an education from one of the top universities in the country while also playing lacrosse at the NCAA level.