MELBOURNE, Fla.. |  The Young Harris College men's lacrosse team used a strong third quarter effort en route to an 8-5 upset victory over 19th-ranked Florida Institute of Technology Sunday (Feb. 18) afternoon at Panther Stadium.

The Mountain Lions, who had started off the season with four nationally ranked opponents, picked up their first-ever victory in 10 tries against a nationally ranked NCAA Division II opponent in the program's history as they improved to 1-3. Florida Tech fell to 0-2.

Young Harris begins a new era in the program's history Friday (Feb. 23) as they host the first-ever Great Lakes Valley Conference men's lacrosse match when they entertain Maryville (Mo.) University at 5 p.m. at the YHC Soccer and Lacrosse Field.

YHC's Chandler Bradley scored the lone goal in the first quarter as the Mountain Lions took a 1-0 lead with 2:04 remaining. Hayes Johnson's goal 61 seconds into the second quarter doubled the Mountain Lions lead. Florida Tech got a goal back, but Young Harris took a 3-1 lead on a Bevan Pate strike with 5:30 left before the half. The Panthers got back-to-back goals in a 47-second span to tie the match at 3.

The Mountain Lions broke the game open with three goals in the third quarter and holding the Panthers scoreless during that time. Bradley's goal at the 11:25 mark gave Young Harris the lead for good at 4-3. Matty Ledon added two insurance goals to give YHC a 6-3 lead going into the final 15 minutes.

Florida Tech managed to score twice in the fourth quarter, but the Mountain Lions maintained their advantage as they got goals from Bruce Silk and Pate.

Young Harris held an edge in shots 37-35 and ground balls 32-30. The Mountain Lions also won 11 of the 17 face-offs.

Bradley, Pate and Ledon each finished with two goals for the Mountain Lions, while Johnson and Silk added one each. Garrett Blake tallied two assists, while Bradley added one. Zach Stephenson won 11 face-offs for YHC and led the team with eight ground balls. Silk scooped up five ground balls, wile Jake Dunlop, Darrien Mask, Kyle Beverly, Sean Dever, Bradley and Blake had two each. 

Dever stopped 12 shots in goal for the Mountain Lions.