Florida and Cincinnati were the Sunday-afternoon winners in American Athletic Conference action as the seventh-ranked Gators used a seven-goal third quarter to run away from No. 17 Michigan, while the Bearcats reeled off 19 goals through the first three quarters in a road win at Gardner-Webb.
East Carolina and Temple were on the short end of one-goal decisions as the Pirates fell to Navy and the Owls were denied by Ohio State. Vanderbilt faced its second consecutive top-25 opponent to start the season, but the Commodores were unable to keep pace with No. 9 Denver.
No. 7 Florida 17, No. 17 Michigan 8
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The seventh-ranked Florida lacrosse team opened its 2023 season with a top-20 victory on Sunday afternoon, as the Gators defeated the 17th-ranked Michigan Wolverines 17-8 at Donald R. Dizney Stadium.
This is the sixth-straight season opening win for Florida and the Gators move to 10-4 overall in season openers.
Florida was led offensively by a four-goal, three-assist performance from Emma LoPinto. She clinched her 100th career point in the game, becoming the fastest Gator to hit that mark. Madison Waters and Maggi Hall each followed with a hat trick of their own, finishing the day with three goals apiece.
Danielle Pavinelli added two goals on the afternoon, while Emily Heller, Paisley Eagan, Emily Diaz, Josie Hahn and Ashley Gonzalez each tallied one goal in the victory.
LoPinto dished out a team-high three assists on the afternoon, while Pavinelli registered two of her own.
In the draw circle, the Gators came up with 15-of-29 wins, with Emily Diaz leading the way with her five draw controls. Heller, Eagan and Hahn followed with two draw control victories apiece.
On the defensive end, Florida held Michigan to 8-of-31 shooting (.258) on the afternoon. Five Gators posted a caused turnover on the day: Eagan, Hahn, Alexa Waters, Catherine Flaherty, Shelton Sawers.
Sarah Reznick registered a team-high four groundballs, followed by two apiece from Hahn, Waters and Flaherty.
In the cage, Sarah Reznick tallied 12 saves in her 56:39 minutes between the pipes, for a .600 save percentage. Elyse Finnelle saw two shots and saved them both for a 1.000 save percentage in her first action.
Cincinnati 20, Gardner-Webb 9
BOILING SPRINGS, N.C. -- Cincinnati overcame a slow start to put together an offensive onslaught at Gardner-Webb, winning 20-9 on a cold, wet Sunday afternoon.
It was the Bearcats' highest offensive output since a 20-19 win over Marquette in the 2021 opener, and the 2-0 start is the first under head coach Gina Thomas. UC also dominated Kent State with a 14-1 lead before the Golden Flashes closed the gap with the contest largely decided. Senior Dani Mlkvy's 13 draw controls also tied the school record, set previously by Megan Bell at Stetson in 2014.
Ava Goeller matched a career-high six goals to lead the way, while freshman Camryn Callaghan added five more after her debut hat trick Friday. Lauren Ottensmeyer followed her four-goal performance in her UC debut to tally a hat trick and three assists on just four shots.
Cincinnati trailed 3-1 and eventually 5-3 early in the second quarter before scoring nine of the next 10 goals for a lead it would not relinquish. The Runnin' Bulldogs scored twice late in the half to stay within 12-8 at the break. UC outscored its hosts 7-0 in the third, and freshman Lexie Wolfe got in the scoring column early in the fourth to close it out.
Twenty-seven of the Bearcats' 34 shots were on goal, and they won the turnover battle as well. Cincinnati is 5-0 against Gardner-Webb, surpassing 20 goals in four of those.
Ohio State 10, Temple 9
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Temple lacrosse (1-1) fell to Big Ten competitor Ohio State (2-0), 10-9 on Sunday afternoon. The Owls took the early lead, but a third quarter burst from the Buckeyes proved to be enough to clinch the 10-9 victory.
The Owls entered the game firing on all cylinders, finding the first goal of the day just five minutes into play from Belle Mastropietro on a Maeve Tobin dish. Just a minute later, the Buckeyes answered back with the equalizer, but a three-goal run was in store for the Cherry and White. Julie Schickling netted back-to-back goals, while Mastropietro found her second of the day off a Camryn Zavacky helper to advance the Owl lead to 4-2.
Both teams played lock-down defense in the second quarter, with only two goals allowed collectively. Amelia Wright found her first of the season just over a minute into play, while Ohio State closed out the half with their only goal of the quarter.
The Buckeyes came out strong in the second half, going on a four-goal run, which was split by a Mackenzie Roth conversion. Ohio State answered back, netting one more to close out the third quarter with the 9-6 lead.
With only 14 minutes remaining in play, Julie Schickling drew a foul, resulting in a free position. She converted, closing in on the Buckeye lead. The Owl defense held strong, but Ohio State found their last goal of the day with just five minutes remaining to advance the score to 10-7. Amelia Wright found the back of the net next, but with only 23 seconds remaining after the goal, the Buckeyes held on to the 10-9 lead and finished with the win.
Schickling led the way for the Owls, netting four goals, a career best.
With six draw controls today, Mastopietro surpassed the 200 career draw control mark, sitting at 205. The standout midfielder is 32 draw controls away from setting the all-time career draw control record for the Owls.
Katie Shallow had a standout day for the Cherry and White, causing five turnovers and scooping up eight groundballs to anchor the Owl defense. Her eight ground balls proved to be a career-best, while her five caused turnovers tied her single game career-high.
Navy 15, East Carolina 14
GREENVILLE, N.C. -- Navy erased a three-goal fourth-quarter deficit to take a 15-14 win against East Carolina Sunday at Johnson Stadium as Ava Yovino got the game-winning goal with 1:59 left in regulation.
East Carolina had built an 11-7 lead late in the third quarter, but the Midshipmen got the last two goals of the the third period before using a four-goal fourth-quarter run to take a 13-12 lead.
Nine players scored goals for East Carolina as Leah Bestany and Sophie Patton both had hat tricks. The Pirates were only 1-for-5 on free position attempts.
Yovino led all scorers with five goals for Navy.
Brynn Knight made eight saves for East Carolina, which fell to 1-1 on the year.
No. 9 Denver 11, Vanderbilt 6
NASHVILLE - No. 9 Denver raced to an early 7-1 lead and held off Vanderbilt's comeback bid as the Pioneers took an 11-6 win Sunday afternoon.
The Pioneers used a 7-0 run spanning the first and second periods to erase the Commodores' opening goal and build a six-goal cushion with 9:15 left in the second quarter.
Vanderbilt scored the last two goals of the first half as Lila Huddles and Molly Finlay struck to make it a four-goal game at halftime. But Denver came back with the first two goals of the third quarter to reclaim the six-goal margin.
Denver finished with a 33-16 advantage in shots and a 23-13 edge in draw controls.
Finlay scored two goals for Vanderbilt and was the only multiple-goal scorer for the Commodores. Goalie Paige Gunning made 12 saves as Vanderbilt fell to 1-1.