Florida, Vanderbilt and Temple followed their Friday conference wins with impressive victories on Sunday. The Gators cruised to a comfortable win against Cincinnati, the Commodores held off a late charge from East Carolina, and the Owls won a thriller at Old Dominion.
NO. 12/11 FLORIDA 19, CINCINNATI 5
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- The 11th-ranked Florida lacrosse team capped of this weekend’s series with a 19-5 win over the Cincinnati Bearcats on Sunday afternoon.
The Gators improve to 7-2 on the year and remain unbeaten in the American Athletic Conference at 4-0, while the Bearcats drop to 4-6 on the year and 0-4 in league play.
Shannon Kavanagh and Danielle Pavinelli led the offensive attack for Florida, each scoring four goals on the afternoon.
Grace Haus, Emily Heller, Brianna Harris and Kassidy Bresnahan each found the back of the cage twice in the victory, while Paisley Eagan, Maggi Hall and Kaala Puglisi tallied a goal apiece against the Bearcats.
Seven different Gators each recorded one assist on the afternoon: Kaitlyn Dabkowski, Bresnahan, Eagan, Harris, Haus, Heller and Kavanagh.
The Gators won 14-of-26 draw controls in the game, led by a career-high five from Heller.
Florida held the Bearcats to 5-of-20 shooting on the afternoon and recorded 10 caused turnovers in the win. Dabkowski posted a team-high two caused turnovers, while eight other Gators each recorded one apiece.
Sarah Reznick, Julia Hammerschlag and Hall each registered a team-best three groundballs in the victory.
Reznick had a lights out day in the cage, recording nine saves and allowing only three goals for a .750 save percentage. Hammerschlag recorded a career-best two saves in the game for a .500 save percentage.
VANDERBILT 14, EAST CAROLINA 12
GREENVILLE, N.C. – Senior Gabby Fornia broke the Vanderbilt and American Athletic Conference single-game assists record with nine to help the Commodores secure a 14-12 road win at East Carolina on Sunday. The win is the seventh in a row for Vanderbilt.
The nine assists for Fornia beats the old record of seven, which she tied earlier in the season. It is the most by an NCAA Division I student-athlete this season, and two shy of the all-time D-1 single-game assists record of 11.
Fornia also posted a hat trick in addition to her nine assists for 12 points, tying the school’s single-game points record and breaking the AAC record. The 12 points are tied with Northwestern’s Izzy Scane for the most in a game this season.
The win improve’s Vanderbilt record to 9-2, tying for the best record through 11 games in Vanderbilt history. The seven-game winning streak is the second-longest in program history. The record is 10-straight wins set by the 2010 squad.
Vanderbilt remains perfect in AAC play, moving to 4-0 on the day.
In addition to Fornia’s offensive production, Griffin Gearhardt scored a career-high five goals to go with three from Maddie Souza, two from Elizabeth Scarrone and one from Nellie Blaze.
Both teams started slowly on the offensive end on Sunday with East Carolina holding a 1-0 lead 14 minutes into the game.
Blaze put the Commodores on the board with 16:06 left in the first half. The tally started a 3-0 run for Vandy that included goals from Gearhardt and Souza.
After an ECU strike to make it 3-2, the Dores reeled off the final four goals of the half for a 7-2 lead at the break. Fornia had five first-half assists, while Gearhardt finished the opening 30 minutes with three goals.
The Pirates had the momentum out of halftime with two goals in the opening three minutes to pull to within three at 7-4. Goals off the sticks of Scarrone and Fornia put the Commodores back on track at 9-4 with 23:33 left.
Three-straight ECU goals were followed by Vandy goals courtesy of Souza and Gearhardt to make it 11-7.
After the Vanderbilt lead grew to five at 14-9, ECU answered with three goals to cut the advantage down to 14-12 with 3:34 to go.
The Commodores were able to keep the Pirates off the scoreboard the rest of the way.
Paige Gunning made 11 saves on the afternoon in goal for the Dores.
For the second game in a row, Vanderbilt had a big day on draws, finishing with 19 draw controls to ECU’s nine. Mikela McCauley finished with seven and Cassidy Orban recorded six.
Vanderbilt will return home to host Old Dominion on Thursday and Saturday at Vanderbilt Stadium.
NO. 24 TEMPLE 9, OLD DOMINION 8
NORFOLK, Va. -- Kara Nakrasius' scored with 24 seconds left in the second half to lift No. 24 Temple to a 9-8 win against Old Dominion Sunday morning.
The Owls trailed 8-7 with 6:32 left after the Monarchs strung together three straight goals, but Belle Mastropietro tied it on a free position goal to set the stage for Nakrasius, who completed a hat trick by finishing a feed from Meghan Hoffman in the closing seconds.
Temple, which had won Friday's series opener 18-8 against the Monarchs, faced a 4-2 halftime deficit as ODU goalie Sabrina Leatherwood made nine of her game-high 17 saves in the first 30 minutes. The Owls were able to tie the game at 4-4 early in the second half before Haley O'Connor struck for the Monarchs to reclaim the lead.
Nakrasius reeled off her first two goals of the game less than a minute apart to give Temple its first lead of the game at 6-5, and Hoffman gave the Owls a two-goal cushion with her second of the game, making it 7-5 with 10:08 to play.
Claire Porter scored back-to-back goals for Old Dominion to tie the score at 7-7, and Ali Mills' second goal of the contest put the Monarchs ahead 8-7 with 6:32 to play.
Nakrasius led all goal scorers with her hat trick, while Hoffman finished with two goals and two assists for the Owls. Shana Hecht made six saves and allowed eight goals.
Old Dominion was led by O'Connor, Porter and Mills, who had two goals each.