Saturday, April 20
Highlights
Florida 16, UConn 5
STORRS, Conn. – The No. 18 Florida Gators pushed their winning streak to seven-straight games on Saturday, downing the UConn Huskies 16-5.
This win moved Florida to 4-0 in conference play, keeping the squad tied with Cincinnati at the top of the field with one game left to play. The Gators face the Bearcats next Saturday to crown the regular season champion.
Shannon Kavanagh led the offensive attack for the Gators, scoring five goals on the afternoon. That mark tied her career-best and she also posted a career-best in points, finishing the day with eight.
Madi Hall, Hannah Mardiney and Lindsey Ronbeck each pitched in two goals as well.
Florida won 19-of-23 draw controls on the day, including a career-best 13 by Shannon Kavanagh.
As a squad, the Gators caused 12 turnovers, led by two apiece from Kaitlyn Dabkowski, Cara Trombetta and Kavanagh.
UConn got on the board first after a free-position conversion, but the Gators answered back within 30 seconds after Shannon Kavanagh split the defense on a one-on-one drive.
Kavanagh scored her second goal of the day at the 25:25 mark, collecting the ricochet off a free-position attempt and find the back of the net. Just 11 seconds later, Lindsey Ronbeck scored on a free-position attempt, putting Florida ahead 3-1 at the 25:14 mark.
Shortly after, Kavanagh found a streaking Ronbeck on a fast-break, giving the Gators a 4-1 lead with just over 17 minutes remaining in the half. The Huskies answered to bring the game to within two goals at 13:38, but back-to-back goals by Madi Hall and Kassidy Bresnahan pushed Florida's lead to 6-2.
The Gators extended their lead to five goals after Paige Aldave found Kavanagh for her third goal of the game – moving her to 11 hat tricks for the season. Just under four minutes later, Brianna Harris found Kavanagh, who scored her fourth goal on a ridiculous behind-the-back goal.
UConn cut Florida's lead to four at the 4:11 mark in the first half, but Hall and Sydney Pirreca scored within 30 seconds of one another to give Florida a six-goal lead going into the half.
The Gators were held scoreless for the first five minutes of the second half, but Harris broke through to put Florida up 11-5 with 25 minutes remaining in the game.
On a fast break attempt, Kavanagh found a speeding Hannah Mardiney, who muscled one into the back of the net for her seventh goal of the season.
Kavanagh found a fast break opportunity of her own, scoring her fifth goal of the game on a man-down opportunity to put Florida up 13-5. Five goals ties her career-best mark, one that she has already hit four times this season.
Temple 18, ECU 5
The Senior Day victory was never in doubt as Temple lacrosse jumped out to a 5-0 lead and never looked back, dominating visiting ECU (5-11, 0-4) in an 18-5 victory. The Owls (5-10, 2-2) clinched the fourth and final spot in the American Athletic Conference Tournament with one regular season game remaining.
Temple took 23 shots on goal to the Pirates' 12, and collected 16 draw controls to ECU's eight. The Owls set the tone right off the bat with a goal in the opening minute. Less than eight minutes in, they had a 5-0 lead, and stretched it to 11-3 by halftime.
Temple got nearly its entire bench involved, and had first career goals by two freshmen. The Owls allowed just two second-half goals and finished the game on a 3-0 run for their largest lead of the day.
Maddie Gebert and Olivia Thompson scored four goals apiece to lead Temple, with Gebert adding an assist.
On her Senior Day, Quinn Benintende scored twice, while senior Amber Lambeth also got on the board. Meghan Hoffman also posted two goals - one of five Owls who scored multiple goals on the day.
In the closing stretch, freshman Lauren Zinkl scored both her first and second career goals, while freshman Wynston Archer also notched her first career goal.
Bridget Whitaker posted a goal and two assists along with collecting three draws.
Cincinnati 18, Vanderbilt 15
The University of Cincinnati lacrosse team closed out its home schedule in style Saturday as the Bearcats battled to an 18-15 win over visiting Vanderbilt to remain in contention for the American Athletic Conference crown while moving to 4-0 in league play and 10-5 overall as nine different players scored at least one goal in the victory at Gettler Stadium on Senior Day.
Amanda Donovan, Sam Mlkvy and Kylie Nause each recorded hat tricks while Monica Borzillo, Alyssa Adams and Kate Carney each chipped in two to help UC to its record seventh win in a row while sending the Commodores to a 10-4 record and 2-2 in the AAC standings.
Cincinnati won its seventh game in a row to move to 10-5 overall and 4-0 in the AAC while Vanderbilt fell to 10-4 and 2-2 in the AAC. At 4-0 in league play, the Bearcats will now play at #18 Florida (4-0) next Saturday for the regular season conference title
UC's seven-game winning streak is the longest in program history, surpassing the six won in a row last year. Already holders of the record for most wins in a season at nine, the Bearcats' 10th win today marked the first time the team has won double-digit games in a season in the 12-year history of the program.
Several individual records were broken today as well, including Borzillo taking the single-season goals (49), assists (39) and points (88) marks, Mlkvy with the draw controls record (81) and Giuliana Durso with the goalie wins record (10).
The Bearcats jumped out to a 1-0 lead on Gysin' first of the game before VU tied the game with 22:32 remaining. From there, the Bearcats would score the next four goals to take a 5-1 lead as Adams, Nause, Jayde Sains and Borzillo each scored to build the lead. But, the Commodores answered back as they scored the next four, tying the game at 5-5 with 6:16 remaining. UC responded, however, as it scored the final four goals of the half to give UC a 9-5 lead at the break.
UC added to its lead early in the second half with the first two goals of the half before the Commodores and Bearcats traded two goals for one as the visitors scored three sets of two goals with UC scoring once between each of those, leaving the score at 14-11 with 6:56 remaining. After a VU goal made it 14-12 with 5:30 remaining, the Bearcats responded and put the game away as they scored three in a row to take a 17-12 lead with 3:56 remaining. VU would score three of the final four goals to bring about the final score, 18-15.
UPCOMING SCHEDULE
| THURSDAY |
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Cincinnati |
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Stetson |
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3 p.m. |
Deland, Fla. |
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| SATURDAY |
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UConn |
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ECU |
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12 p.m. |
Greenville, N.C. |
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Cincinnati |
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Florida |
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12 p.m. |
Gainesville, Fla. |
Live Stats Live Video |
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Temple |
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Vanderbilt |
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1 p.m. |
Nashville, Tenn. |