American Athletic Conference teams split four nonconference games Wednesday as No. 9 Florida rolled to a road victory against Liberty, while Cincinnati stunned Louisville in overtime. Vanderbilt was unable to hold on to an early lead against Coastal Carolina, and Temple dropped an overtime heartbreaker to Drexel.
CINCINNATI 13, LOUISVILLE 12 (OT)
LOUISVILLE -- Cincinnati controlled the opening draw of overtime, and Ava Goeller rifled home the sudden-death, game-winning goal as Cincinnati defeated Louisville, 13-12, on Wednesday afternoon.
The drama came after the Bearcats had just one goal over the final 21:59, and Louisville had scored three times in a row over the final eight minutes to draw even. Cincinnati's only deficit was 3-2 in the first quarter. The visitors responded with a 7-2 run to lead 9-5 at the break, and the win improved them to 10-0 when holding that advantage.
Sophomore Kylie Gioia earned her first start of the season (second of her career) and posted her third hat trick, all in the last five games. She now has 17 points over that span (11 goals, six assists). Lauren Ottensmeyer earned her seventh hat trick with a game-high four goals.
Ashley Lapp recorded 12 saves, including five each in the first and fourth quarters. UC went 3-for-4 on its free-position attempts, while the Cardinals were 1-for-8. Dani Mlkvy had three of the team's nine caused turnovers, and her four draw controls have tied Sam Mlkvy's single-season school record (97 in 2019).
Goeller also scored the first goal of the game, and Camryn Callaghan scored her 50th of the season. She remains in third for single-season school history. Julie Rose rounded out the box score with her fifth goal, and all have come in the team's overtime games.
This was Cincinnati's first-ever win in 16 games against the Cardinals, as well as the Bearcats' third overtime battle on the year. Coincidentally, all have been 13-12 (defeating Davidson at home and falling at Ohio State in consecutive affairs.
NO. 9 FLORIDA 16, LIBERTY 7
LYNCHBURG, Va. – The ninth-ranked Florida lacrosse team cruised to the 16-7 victory over the Liberty Flames on Wednesday afternoon.
Florida has now won five-straight games, moving to 10-3 overall, while Liberty drops to 7-6 in the 2023 campaign.
Emma LoPinto led the scoring effort for Florida – the eighth time she’s done so this season – scoring five goals in the game. Her second of the day was her 100th career goal, becoming Florida’s 16th 100-goal scorer and she is now tied for the fastest Gator to achieve the mark (Kitty Cullen – 35 games).
Emily Heller and Danielle Pavinelli each registered two goals in the victory, followed by one goal apiece from seven Gators: Paisley Eagan, Ashley Gonzalez, Tayler Warehime, Emerson Cabrera, Gianna Monaco, Ava Tighe, Jackie Norsworthy.
Pavinelli dished out a season-high three assists in the victory, followed by one helper from Heller, Eagan, Maggi Hall, Catherine Flaherty, Theresa Bragg and Tighe.
The Gators dominated the draw circle, coming up with 18-of-27 draws. Emily Diaz and Liz Harrison led the way with six draw controls apiece on the afternoon, followed by two from Eagan and Kaitlyn Davies.
Florida held Liberty to 7-of-33 shooting in the game (.212) and totaled six caused turnovers.
Heller and LoPinto each tallied a team-high two groundballs, followed by one apiece from 12 Gators.
In her 37:19 between the pipes, Sarah Reznick came up with 12 saves while only allowing two goals for a .857 save percentage. That was a career-high save percentage for the redshirt junior and also tied her best for fewest goals scored.
Elyse Finnelle saw the final 22:41 in the cage, recording a career-high eight saves with a .615 save percentage.
COASTAL CAROLINA 17, VANDERBILT 13
CONWAY, S.C. — Vanderbilt lacrosse fell at Coastal Carolina in a 17-13 decision on Wednesday afternoon. The Commodores will visit No. 9 Florida on Saturday, April 22.
In the opening seconds of the game, Paige Finneran connected for a goal to put the Dores up early. Coastal Carolina responded with back-to-back goals. Molly Finlay answered with the equalizer before Coastal’s goalie pushed the ball into her own net, putting the Dores up 3-2 at the midway point of the first. The Chanticleers scored the next three goals, but Vandy had three consecutive goals to close out the period with a 7-5 lead.
Vanderbilt posted four goals in the second quarter. Lila Huddles and Cate Bradley connected for their first goals of the day while Finneran and Finlay tallied a second. The Dores led 11-8 at the break.
DREXEL 10, TEMPLE 9 (2OT)
PHILADELPHIA – Temple lacrosse (5-8, 0-3 AAC) dropped to crosstown rival Drexel (9-4, 2-2 CAA) on Wednesday afternoon at Howarth Field in double overtime. The Owls put up a great fight, making a three-goal run at the end of the fourth quarter to bring the game to overtime, but Drexel found the game-winner after a back-and-forth battle.
The Dragons struck first, netting the first two goals of the game, but a Maeve Tobin goal put the Owls on the board.
Drexel found their third of the day to advance the lead to 3-1, but Mackenzie Roth answered back in the fourth minute.
A Drexel goal followed, but Camryn Zavacky capitalized off a Charessa Crosse dish to end the first quarter 4-3. Zavacky kept her foot on the gas, finding her second of the day to tie it up with Tobin following suit, finding the back of the net for the 5-4 lead.
As halftime approached, the Dragon offense did not let up, posting a three-goal run to close out the first 30 minutes with the 7-5 lead.
Mia Ciancio opened scoring in the third quarter just over a minute into play, but the Dragons found two more to keep the three-goal cushion into the fourth quarter.
With just over six minutes remaining, the Cherry and White turned on the jets, going on a three-goal run, which included back-to-back goals from Belle Mastropietro. Zavacky tallied her third of the day, which served as the game-tying goal to advance to overtime.
The Dragons and the Owls went head-to-head in the first six minutes of overtime, in which goalie Taylor Grollman came up big with three saves, forcing the contest into double overtime.
Drexel earned the possession after forcing a turnover in midfield, which resulted in a run down the field for the game winning goal.