The three road teams in American Athletic Conference play were all victorious Saturday as Florida and Temple overcame early deficits to win, while Cincinnati pulled away from a tie score with a strong second half.
The wins by Florida and Temple set up a battle of those teams next week in Gainesville, in which the winner will clinch a share of The American's regular-season title and the No. 1 seed in the upcoming conference championship.
SATURDAY, APRIL 16
Cincinnati 17, Old Dominion 11
Florida 16, Vanderbilt 8
Temple 15, East Carolina 10
CINCINNATI 17, OLD DOMINION 11
NORFOLK, Va. -- Cincinnati senior attacker Kylie Nause recorded her school-record 13th hat trick of the year, while Grace Wehland (five goals) and Ava Goeller (four) also joined the club in a 17-11 win at Old Dominion on Saturday.
Nause in the process passed Monica Borzillo (2019) for the top spot, who now serves as an ODU assistant coach. Nause is four goals away from tying Borzillo in the single-season goal ranks as well.
Tied at the half, UC rallied from an ODU goal at 14:28 to score seven-straight times for a commanding 14-8 advantage with 14 minutes left. The contest also matched the team's season-high scoring output, previously on March 4 and 6 at Kent State and Akron.
"I'm proud of our team and how we responded in the second half," head coach Gina Thomas said. "ODU came out tough and we were back on our heels a bit. Our toughness and discipline in the third showed we were locked in."
Wehland's five goals gave her 18 on the year, with her other four multi-goal games of the season coming after no goals her first two years. This was also her first hat trick. Goeller's four goals marked her ninth hat trick, which also ranks sixth at the school. Her 41 goals equal her 2021 total, when she was the Big South Freshman of the Year at Radford.
UC's first two goals came by way of free-position shots, and the Bearcats also led 6-4 in the second quarter after Kylie Gioia fed Wehland for a score. The Bearcats had 12 shots in the first and 13 in the third despite only four in the second. Peyton Mottice scored two goals for the first time this season, while Anna Platou also notched a pair. Elizabeth Murphy rounded out the scoring column.
Gianna Pope (five saves) played the final 36 minutes, her most of the season, to earn the win.
NO. 10 FLORIDA 16, VANDERBILT 8
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – After a stellar 11-0 run that spanned the second and third quarters, the 10th-ranked Florida lacrosse team topped the Vanderbilt Commodores 16-8 on Saturday afternoon.
The Gators have secured their eighth-straight win and move to 10-4 on the year and 3-0 in league play. Vanderbilt drops to 8-6 overall and 1-2 in the AAC.
"We started a bit slower than we would have liked to today," said Florida head coach Amanda O'Leary. "But both our offense and our defense woke up in the second quarter. We came up with the draw more frequently after the first quarter and that really helped to kick start our offense."
Emma LoPinto led the offensive surge for Florida, tallying seven goals on the afternoon – a career-high for the freshman. That also set a new program record for the most goals scored in a game by a freshman.
Danielle Pavinelli followed with four goals of her own in the victory, while Paisley Eagan and Maggi Hall each found the back of the cage twice. Ashley Gonzalez also tallied one goal of her own on the day.
Gonzalez dished out four assists, tying her career-best mark in the victory, while Pavinelli, Emerson Cabrera, Kaala Puglisi and Jill Quigley each recorded one.
Florida won 19-of-28 draw controls, with Liz Harrison leading the way with a career-high 11. Emily Heller added three, while Josie Hahn and Shelton Sawers each finished the day with two.
The Gator defense held Vanderbilt scoreless for 25:37 throughout the end of the first quarter until midway through the third and kept the Commodores to 8-of-30 shooting (.267). Emma Wightman led the way with two caused turnovers, while four Gators each registered one in the game.
Wightman also registered a team-high five groundballs, just one off her career-high mark.
Sarah Reznick had a day in the cage, coming up with 13 saves for a .722 save percentage during her 52:18. Julia Hammerschlag notched two saves of her own during her 7:42 minutes between the pipes.
TEMPLE 15, EAST CAROLINA 10
GREENVILLE, N.C. – The Temple lacrosse team (10-4, 3-0 AAC) took down the East Carolina Pirates, 15-10 to win its third straight conference game (8-7, 1-2 AAC). The Owls were down 6-0 with 7:09 remaining in the first quarter, but outscored the Pirates 15-4 the rest of the way to secure the victory and stay perfect in the American Athletic Conference.
"Very proud of the effort today against a strong ECU team," said Temple head coach Bonnie Rosen. "The American is a great lacrosse conference and this was an important victory today. Our draw team came up big and that gave us some important possessions throughout the game."
ECU scored the first six goals of the game, including four goals in that stretch from freshman Leah Bestany.
Temple scored the next four to cut the lead down to just two goals. Quinn Nicolai and Riley McGowan scored two each.
The Pirates scored two of the final three goals of the second quarter. Mackenzie Roth scored for Temple. ECU took an 8-5 lead into halftime.
Nicolai scored the first three goals of the third quarter to tie the game at eight with 5:05 remaining in the third quarter. It was the first time the game had been tied since 14:21 in the first quarter.
East Carolina retook the lead briefly, but Maeve Tobin scored with 57 seconds remaining in the third to tie the match up at 9. ECU never led again.
Tobin scored to give Temple it's first lead of the game to open the fourth frame. McGowan and Roth found the back of the net to extend the lead (12-9).
The Owls scored the last three goals of the game. Tobin, Abaigeal Ryan, and Julie Schickling scored the final three. Roth assisted on all three goals.
Nicolai tied for the game-high in goals with five. She also passed for an assist and picked up a ground ball. Tobin scored her first career hat trick. McGowan also scored three goals, as well as passing for an assist and scooping a ground ball.
Temple dominated the draw control circle. The Owls controlled 21 draws to ECU's eight.