Florida, Vanderbilt and Temple picked up series-opening wins Friday as the Gators and Commodores improved to 3-0 in American Athletic Conference play, while the Owls scored their first league win.
NO. 12/11 FLORIDA 20, CINCINNATI 3
GAINESVILLE, Fla -- Three-hundred eighty-one days after the its last home game, the No. 11 Florida lacrosse team dominated the Cincinnati Bearcats on Friday evening at Donald R. Dizney Stadium, winning 20-3.
The Gators improve to 6-2 on the year, including an undefeated 3-0 record in conference play, while Cincinnati falls to 4-5 on the year and 0-3 in the AAC.
"We came out of the locker room fired up," said Florida head coach Amanda O'Leary. "Obviously with it being our first game at home, you never know if those first-game jitters or nerves of playing at home will be there, but the team crushed it today. They came out and competed from the very first whistle.”
Florida exploded for 20 goals, with 12 different Gators finding the back of the cage. Grace Haus and Shannon Kavanagh each tallied four goals in the game, while Paisley Eagan, Brianna Harris, Emily Heller and Danielle Pavinelli all registered two goals apiece.
Kassidy Bresnahan, Lexie Morton, Jackie Norsworthy and Shelton Sawers all scored once for the Gators.
Harris led the way with three assists in the game, while five other Gators each tallied one.
Florida won 15-of-25 draw controls, led by six from Kavanagh. Eagan, Heller and Sawers each recorded two in the victory.
UFs defense was lights out, keeping Cincinnati to just three goals in the game – the fewest goals allowed since April 28, 2018 when Florida defeated Butler 23-3. The defense held the Bearcats scoreless for the first 35:09 of the game and then also shut them out for the final 10:43.
As a squad, the Gators recorded 11 caused turnovers, led by two apiece from Emma Wightman, Kaitlyn Dabkowski and Catherine Moriarty. Five Gators registered one caused turnover in the victory.
Sarah Reznick led the way with four groundballs, while Cara Trombetta and Kaitlyn Dabkowski each recorded two on the evening.
Reznick had a stellar day in the cage, recording four saves while only allowing two goals for a .667 save percentage. Julia Hammerschlag notched one save in her 15:00 between the pipes.
The Gators are right back in action on Sunday, closing out the conference series with the Bearcats. Opening draw is set for 12 p.m. at Donald R. Dizney Stadium and the game can be heard on FloridaGators.com/watch.
VANDERBILT 19, EAST CAROLINA 12
GREENVILLE, N.C. – Callie Sundin scored three goals, while five Vanderbilt players struck twice each as the Commodores won their sixth straight game with a 19-12 decision against East Carolina Friday at Johnson Stadium.
Vanderbilt never trailed in the game as the Commodores built an early 4-1 advantage, saw East Carolina close to within 6-5, and answered with a five-goal run late in the first half to effectively put the game out of reach.
The Commodores took an 11-6 lead into the second half adn Sundin's third goal of the afternoon sparked a three-goal Vanderbilt run to give the visitors a 14-6 lead with 25:18 to play.
Vanderbilt took advantage of 27 East Carolina fouls and outshot the Pirates by a 41-30 margin.
Gabby Fornia, Maddie Souza, Bri Gross, Lila Huddles and Mikela McCauley all scored twice for Vanderbilt, which saw 12 different players score goals.
Goalie Paige Gunning made six saves in 50 minutes to pick up the win, while Lexie de Roziere played the last nine-and-a-half minutes and made three stops.
East Carolina was led by Megan Tryniski and Frances Kimel, who scored four goals each, but were two of only five Pirate players to find the scoresheet. Goalie Ashley Vernon made 15 saves.
NO. 24 TEMPLE 18, OLD DOMINION 8
NORFOLK, Va. -- The Temple lacrosse team (5-3, 1-2 AAC) won its first conference matchup against the Old Dominion Monarchs (3-7, 1-2 AAC) 18-8 Friday afternoon.
"I give our kids a lot of credit for playing through it all," said Temple head coach Bonnie Rosen. "We made fewer mistakes and showed more physicality. We did a good job causing turnovers in transition and teams have not had an easy team clearing against us. I think today was that and more."
Jen Rodzewich scored the first goal of the game for the Owls off a feed from Bridget Whitaker. Temple proceeded to score the next three goals unanswered to open the match on a 4-0 run. Whitaker, Gabrielle Kirsch, and Julie Schickling all found the back of the net.
Old Dominion finally got on the board nearly 16 minutes after the start of the match. The Owls quickly responded with two quick strikes from Abaigeal Ryan and Belle Mastropietro.
The Monarchs scored their second of the afternoon (6-2) and Temple responded with five unanswered goals to give Temple an 11-3 halftime lead.
ODU came out of the half with two quick scores Before Whitaker and Kirsch answered with goals of their own. The Monarchs scored twice again to cut the lead down to six (13-7) with 13:43 remaining.
Temple went on another 5-0 run to put the game out of reach. Four different Owls scored, including two from Lydia Hetznecker and Charessa Crosse's first goal of the season.
Old Dominion scored with 20 seconds left on the clock to seal the game 18-8.
Whitaker, Rodzewich, and Hetznecker both earned hat tricks. For Whitaker, it's her second in three games. For Hetznecker, these three goals are her first of the season.
Whitaker set a new season-high with eight draw control wins, and Temple won the draw control battle 15-12. The Owls have not had fewer draw controls than their opponent yet this season.