MELBOURNE, Fla. - The Concordia-St. Paul women's lacrosse team (6-4) had its first three game winning streak snapped in a 20-5 road loss at #12 Florida Tech (8-1) on Thursday evening at Panther Stadium.

The Golden Bears close out their four game Florida spring break tour on Saturday with a noon draw at Tampa. The Spartans are 4-5 and have dropped three in a row at home in the past week.

Tonight's game was played on a clear night with temperatures in the upper 50's, described locally as "cold" as the Panthers extended their winning streak to eight games. It was Concordia's first contest against a nationally-ranked opponent at the Division II level, as Florida Tech has climbed to the #12 ranking in the IWLCA Coaches Top-20 Poll in just its third year as a DII women's program.

Concordia entered play having won three in a row - all on the road including topping the #6-ranked team at the NAIA level, Ave Maria on Sunday.

Florida Tech wasted no time getting the upper hand in the game, scoring a pair of goals within 17 seconds in the third minute.

Freshman Riley Burns found freshman Kailey Heinl to cut the Tech lead to 4-1 in the ninth minute, with freshman Kaci Reid finding Heinl for her second goal in the 14th minute to make it a 7-2 deficit.

Heinl achieved her sixth hat trick of the year and fourth in a row with a third goal in the first half, coming in the 30th minute with 22 seconds to play before the break to make it a 14-3 lead for Florida Tech. Burns assisted for the second time on Heinl's third goal.

In the second half, it was junior Kallie LaValle finding freshman Cassidy Leininger to cut the margin to 17-4 and a fourth goal by Heinl narrowed it to 18-5 before the Panthers scored the final two.

Concordia assisted on four of its five goals, showing ability to execute its sets even on the road against a nationally-ranked opponent.

Aleah Fjelstad led Florida Tech with six points, scoring four goals and assisting on two others. She scored three goals and had an assist in the first 10:30 of play to help the Panthers pull ahead early.

Freshman goalie Katie Lottsfeldt made 11 saves despite being under pressure throughout, facing 35 total shots with 31 coming on the cage. She also tallied seven ground balls while playing alert in the position.

Freshman Brooke Genzler led the defense with three caused turnovers, adding two ground balls.

Heinl has now racked up 36 points on the year in 10 games including a team leading 33 goals. LaValle and Reid are tied for the team lead with nine assists and Burns has now totaled six assists.

Concordia committed 29 turnovers to Florida Tech's 19, and picked up 18 ground balls compared to Tech's 29. The Panthers were perfect in 14 clears while CSP was 11-of-18.

The Golden Bears were closest to FIT on the draw control, picking up 12 of the 25 and securing a nine to eight advantage in the first half.