Two American Athletic Conference teams came up short on the road Friday as Florida fell to top-ranked North Carolina and East Carolina was unable to keep pace with Davidson.
NO. 1 NORTH CAROLINA 11, NO. 7/8 FLORIDA 5
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – The eighth-ranked Florida lacrosse team battled all 60 minutes on Friday afternoon, but ultimately fell 11-5 to the top-ranked North Carolina Tar Heels.
Redshirt freshman Sarah Reznick recorded 16 saves against the top-ranked squad, tying the program record (Haley Hicklen – twice). The 16 saves bested Reznick's previous career-high of 14, which she recorded against the top-ranked Terrapins a season ago.
Grace Haus led the way offensively with three goals on the afternoon, her first hat trick of the season. Ashley Gonzalez notched her first collegiate goal in the game, while Shannon Kavanagh rounded out the scoring column for Florida with one goal of her own.
Haus, Kavanagh and Brianna Harris each dished out an assist.
The draw circle was dead even, with each team registering nine draw controls in the game. Kavanagh led the way with five, while Harris and Emma Wightman recorded two apiece.
Cara Trombetta and Kaitlyn Dabkowski held UNC's scoring duo of Katie Hoag and Jamie Ortega to just 1-of-6 shooting in the game.
Haus, Trombetta and Becky Browndorf each caused a turnover against the Tar Heels, while Reznick and Kavanagh each picked up a team-high three groundballs.
DAVIDSON 15, EAST CAROLINA 6
DAVIDSON, N.C. – A rough shooting night cost the ECU lacrosse team as the Pirates fell to Davidson 15-6 on Friday night.
ECU falls to 1-2 on the season while Davidson improves to 2-1.
The Pirates struggled to get consistent offense going in the opening half. ECU fell behind 2-0 before France Kimel got the Pirates on the scoreboard with a free-position goal more than six minutes into the game. However, Kimel's goal was the only ECU tally through the game's first 15 minutes while Davidson raced out to a 5-1 lead. Megan Tryniski stopped the bleeding with a free-position goal of her own, but the Wildcats finished the half on a 3-1 run to take an 8-3 lead of the half. Tryniski set up Payton Barr for ECU's third goal of the game during that span.
Davidson started the second half with a man-advantage goal. Ally Stanton answered for ECU, scoring off a feed from MacKell Schultes. From there though, Davidson grabbed control of the game. The Wildcats scored five straight goals, mainly thanks to Sam Rippley and Grace Fahey who combined for three goals and two assists on that run.
By the time Tryniski scored off a give-and-go with Megan Pallozzi, ECU trailed 14-5 with 8:57 to go. Rippley got her fifth goal of the game before Barr bagged her second of the day to round out the scoring.
Davidson only had a 29-24 edge in shots, but the gap widened to 24-16 in shots on goal. The Pirate defense did do a good job of turning the Wildcats over, causing 14 Davidson turnovers with the Wildcats finishing with 27 overall. Both teams scooped up 23 ground balls while Davidson had a 13-10 edge in draw controls.
Tryniski led the Pirates with three points on two goals and an assist while Barr had a pair of goals. Ashley Vernon made nine saves in the cage for ECU. Cece Bartley grabbed a team-high four ground balls while Nicole LeGar had four draw controls. Alexandra Giacolone led the Pirates in caused turnovers with three while Bartley, Pallozzi and Jordyn Cox each had a pair.