Sports can turn teammates into family. For the Hurt sisters, the reverse is also true.
For the past two seasons, sisters Millie Hurt ’24 and Phoebe Hurt have donned the Crimson and Gray as regulars on the field for Florida Tech’s women’s lacrosse team. But with Millie’s graduation in 2024, the 2025 season will see Phoebe, a midfielder for the Panthers, switch roles from the youngest Hurt sister on the field to the oldest, as Ruby Hurt joins the team.
The Hurt sisters’ journey to Florida Tech 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.”
The sport’s limited profile in England encouraged Phoebe 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 sisters quickly refined their skills and began to play internationally, with all three selected to play on the Wales Under 20 National Team. Phoebe and Ruby even represented Wales at the 2024 World Lacrosse Women’s U20 Championship in Hong Kong. It was an honor that was not lost on the trio.
“I feel pride for every team I’ve played for, but Wales is like a different feeling,” Phoebe says.
“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,” the eldest sister says. “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.”
She spoke to a few coaches who recommended she make her interest known to some U.S. collegiate coaches. Shortly after, former women’s lacrosse coach Mackenzie Rafferty contacted her about playing for the Panthers.
“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,” Millie says. “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.”
Millie came to Florida Tech in fall 2020 and earned her biochemistry degree in May 2024. After graduation, she accepted a https://news.fit.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/dr_wiggenhorn1-1.jpg communications specialist job at SCIEX, a biotechnology company.
As Millie established herself on campus, Phoebe noticed the many opportunities that her sister was receiving in the biochemistry field. Although other NCAA programs recruited her, Phoebe couldn’t resist the familiarity of Melbourne and the Space Coast or the university’s welcoming atmosphere. She decided she wasn’t finished playing alongside her sister and committed to attending Florida Tech in 2022, also opting to study 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,” Phoebe says. “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.
Similarly, Phoebe has been an allaction 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 University April 5, 2023, Millie even recorded the assist on a goal for Phoebe.
“I feel like I’ve received more opportunities by coming to Florida Tech than I would have at home, especially going into the biotech industry,” Millie says. “I wanted to go into the business side of science. With my experiences here, I was 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.”
As Tech takes to Rick Stottler Field this spring, so does the next iteration of the Hurt sister duo, with Ruby now in the fold.
After witnessing her sisters’ experiences transitioning to academics and athletics in the United States, Ruby isn’t worried now that it is her turn.
“I feel like it’s just as comfortable here as it is at home,” Ruby says. “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.”
Each Hurt sister has brought both tangible and intangible qualities to the program, head coach Kelsey Richardson says, and she looks forward to seeing what is in store for the two younger sisters.
“I would say Phoebe probably has the biggest fire in her in terms of aggressiveness on the field,” Richardson says. “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.”
Having played with three pairs of sisters while at Syracuse University, Richardson likes the idea of a team being a family, both metaphorically and literally, and would like to see more of it 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.”
This piece was featured in the winter 2025 edition of Florida Tech Magazine.
