The No. 5 Lindenwood women's lacrosse team opened the 2017 season with a thrilling 15-12 comeback victory against the Florida Tech Panthers on Friday afternoon from Melbourne, Fla. The Lady Lions trailed 8-5 at halftime, before outscoring the Panthers 10-3 in the second half.
 
 Florida Tech jumped out to an early 4-0 lead, scoring four goals in a 4:44 stretch. The Panthers received two goals from Aleeah Fjelstad, and one each from Leah Dunn and Allie Modica.
 
Lindenwood responded with a run of its own, scoring four of the next five goals, bringing the game to a 5-4 score with 6:39 remaining in the first half. Rachel Benzing netted the first two Lady Lion goals of the season, before Allison Hurley and Morgan Judd chipped in with scores of their own. Sophie Buelow and Maria Johnson were credited with assists on two of the Lindenwood scores.
 
Over the final 4:30 of the first half, Florida Tech would outscore Lindenwood 3-1, building itself an 8-5 lead heading into halftime. Buelow scored the lone Lady Lion goal during that stretch.
 
Florida Tech scored three straight goals to begin the second half as it extended its lead to a six-goal margin. Trailing 11-5 with just under 22 minutes remaining in the game, Lindenwood rattled off six consecutive goals in a 2:19 stretch to even the score at 11. Johnson and Judd each scored twice during the six-goal stretch for Lindenwood, while Hurley and Buelow each accounted for one score.
 
With the game tied 11-11, Lindenwood received a free-position attempt with 16:07 remaining in the second half. Hannah Doughty lined up to take the attempt and immediately fired a pass to Hurley who deposited the ball into the back of the cage, giving Lindenwood its first lead of the contest.
 
Florida Tech would pull even at 12-12 just over three minutes later, behind a Modica score.
 
Lindenwood then poured in three straight goals over a 3:35 stretch to go up by a 15-12 margin. Judd, Buelow, and Hurley scored the goals for the Lady Lions.
 
Rachel Ortell made the start in net for Lindenwood, turning in an eight-save performance.
 
Hurley and Judd led the way for Lindenwood, totaling four goals each. Benzing and Johnson registered team-high totals in points with five.
 
Lindenwood outshot Florida Tech, 33-27.
Each team scooped up 26 groundballs. The Lady Lions had four players record team-best totals of three groundballs.
 
The Lady Lions secured 18 of the 29 draw controls, led by Johnson's total of eight.
 
No. 5 Lindenwood will return to action on Sunday afternoon at 12:00 ET in Winter Park, Fla. during a non-conference matchup with No. 6 Rollins. The Tars will enter the match with a record of 1-0 on the season.