The three road teams came away with victories on the opening day of American Athletic Conference play as No. 11/11 Florida, Vanderbilt and East Carolina claimed Friday wins.
NO. 11/11 FLORIDA 15, NO. 20/25 TEMPLE 9
PHILADELPHIA – The No. 11/11 Florida lacrosse team (4-2, 1-0 AAC) kicked off American Athletic Conference play on a high note, defeating the No. 20/25th-ranked Temple Owls (4-2, 0-1 AAC) 15-9 on Friday afternoon at Howarth Field.
The Gators move to 4-2 on the year, while Temple drops to 4-2 in the 2021 campaign.
Shannon Kavanagh led the way offensively for Florida, exploding for five goals, tying her season-best mark. Grace Haus recorded three goals – including her 100th career goal – for her second hat trick of the season. Brianna Harris notched two goals on the afternoon, tying her season-best, while five Gators each registered one goal in the game.
“Very proud of how we played today," said head coach Amanda O'Leary. "We had a very good shooting day and played outstanding team defense. Everyone stepped up their game today and we came out with a good win over a very good Temple team. We will need to take this momentum into our game on Sunday."
Maggi Hall posted a team-high two assists, while Kavanagh and Ashley Gonzalez each recorded one apiece.
Kavanagh led the way in the draw circle, coming up with three draw controls in the victory, while Emily Heller added two on the afternoon.
As a team, Florida recorded 11 caused turnovers, led by three from Kavanagh, tying her career-high. Hall and Cara Trombetta followed with two apiece.
Trombetta registered a career-high six groundballs in the victory, while five Gators each tallied two.
Sarah Reznick recorded 11 saves during her 57:36 in the cage, notching a .579 save percentage.
The Gators close out the series with the Owls on Sunday at Howarth Field. Opening draw is slated for noon ET on ESPN+.
VANDERBILT 10, CINCINNATI 8
CINCINNATI, Ohio – Callie Sundin tallied a hat trick and Paige Gunning made a career-high 15 saves to carry the Vanderbilt lacrosse team to a 10-8 road win over Cincinnati in the American Athletic Conference opener on Friday at Nippert Stadium.
Vanderbilt (6-2, 1-0 AAC), which picked up its first road win of the season, has now won four games in a row.
Gunning was outstanding throughout the day, making eight saves in the first half and seven more in the second. The sophomore goalkeeper also led the Commodores with five ground balls.
On the offensive end, Sundin’s three goals were complemented by two goals and an assist from Griffin Gearhardt as well as two goals and an assist courtesy of Maddie Souza.
Strong defensive play from both sides made goals tough to come by in the early going. With the scored tied at 2-2 with seven minutes left in the first half, Vanderbilt closed the opening period with a 5-0 run to take a 7-2 halftime lead.
Sundin paced the offense with two first-half goals, while Bri Gross added a goal and two assists in the opening 30 minutes.
Out of the break, the Bearcats tallied the first four goals to trim the edge down to 7-6. The run spanned the opening 10 minutes of the second half until Gearhardt’s free position goal stopped the bleeding.
Back-to-back goals from Sundin and Souza extended the Vanderbilt lead back up to four at 10-6 with just under 10 minutes left.
Two quick Cincinnati goals made the score 10-8 with eight minutes showing on the clock, but that was as close as the home side would get the rest of the way.
The two teams took 28 shots apiece with the Commodores holding a 27-18 advantage on ground balls.
Vanderbilt improves to 7-2 in the all-time series versus the Bearcats and is 3-2 in games played in Cincinnati.
EAST CAROLINA 12, OLD DOMINION 9
NORFOLK, Va. -- An early run and a 3-1 finish helped the East Carolina lacrosse team top Old Dominion 12-9 on Friday afternoon.
ECU improves to 3-4 overall and 1-0 in AAC play while Old Dominion falls to 2-6 and 0-1 in conference. It is the first win in conference play in ECU's history, after the Pirates went 0-5 in 2019 and did not play any league games in 2020.
ECU could not have gotten off to a better start. The Pirates ripped off the games first five goals to jump out to a lead. Megan Tryniski had assists on the first two goals, setting up Nicole LeGar and Frances Kimel before LeGar scored an unassisted goal. Ellie Bromley added a man-up goal followed by Camryn Pennypacker adding a fifth.
The Monarchs finally got on the scoreboard at the 21:52 mark in the first half when Lindsay Baer scored off a pass from Danielle Dundas. However, LeGar completed her hat trick in just over 12 minutes by scoring her third goal of the day at 17:31, this goal off a give-and-go with Kimel.
The two teams traded 2-0 runs, first Corrinne Stratton and Lilly Siskind scoring for the Monarchs, followed by consecutive ECU goals by Kimel and Tryniski.
Old Dominion began to crawl back into the contest over the final 10 minutes of the first half. After Tryniski's goal, the Monarchs finished the opening stanza on a 3-1 run, with only a goal from Pennypacker staunching the Old Dominion run. That made the score 9-6 in favor of the Pirates at the break.
After the high-scoring start to the game, the Pirates offense took a while to get going in the second half. Old Dominion got a goal with 26:39 remaining in the game to cut the deficit to 9-7.
From there though, both defenses took over the game. There was more a stretch of more than 14 minutes without a goal by either team. The Pirates forced four turnovers in that span, including two by Liz Blumthal, while Ashley Vernon made three saves. Despite that strong defense, the Monarchs finally broke through with 12:31 to go, as Haley O'Connor scoring to make the score just 9-8.
With the lead cut to the narrowest of margins, ECU needed someone to make a play and it was LeGar and Kimel who stepped up. LeGar won the ensuing draw. That possession led to Kimel setting up LeGar who scored her fourth goal of the day to regain some breathing room.
The Pirates did not rest on that two-goal lead. Tryniski extended the lead further when she scored during another man-up opportunity, this goal set up by LeGar. Tryniski completed a hat trick of her own just over a minute later when she scored an unassisted goal.
While Tryniski's tally was the final of the day for ECU, it was enough as Old Dominion could muster just one more goal over the final five minutes.
ECU finished with a 32-24 edge in shots and 19-14 edge in ground balls. Old Dominion held a 13-10 lead in draw controls, but the Monarchs turned the ball over 22 times compared to just 14 for the Pirates.
LeGar and Tryniski each finished with five points to lead East Carolina with Kimel right behind with four. LeGar added five draw controls while Blumthal caused a pair of turnovers. Vernon made nine saves in the cage for ECU, her fifth straight game with at least nine saves, and scooped up four ground balls.
The Pirates and the Monarchs will meet once again on Sunday afternoon. That contest will get started at 1 p.m.