Florida and Vanderbilt became the first two teams to claim spots in the American Athletic Conference Women's Lacrosse Championship as the Gators and Commodores completed weekend sweeps of their respective conference series to improve to 6-0 in league play.
NO. 10 FLORIDA 19, EAST CAROLINA 7
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The 10th-ranked Florida lacrosse team capped of its series against ECU with an impressive 19-7 win over the Pirates on Saturday afternoon at Donald R. Dizney Stadium.
The Gators improve to 9-2 on the year and remain undefeated in conference play at 6-0, while East Carolina drops to 3-9 overall and 1-5 in the AAC.
Grace Haus led the Gators offensively with a career-best six goals on 6-of-6 shooting in the game, while Kassidy Bresnahan, Brianna Harris, Shannon Kavanagh and Danielle Pavinelli each notched two goals apiece on the afternoon.
The Gators had five other players who found the back of the cage once: Whitney Albert, Ashley Gonzalez, Charlotte Harmon, Jill Quigley and Shelton Sawers.
Harris led the way dishing out three assists in the game, while Emerson Cabrera registered a career-high two assists against the Pirates.
Seven Gators each registered one helper in the game as well: Bresnahan, Kaitlyn Dabkowski, Gonzalez, Maggi Hall, Kavanagh, Kelly Schluederberg and Janine Suris.
The Gators picked up right where they left off on Thursday night in the draw circle, winning 14-of-26 draws in the game. Kavanagh led the way with four draws, while Harris added three in the victory. Paisley Eagan and Emily Heller rounded out the draw controls leaders – each recording two in the game.
Florida’s defense limited the Pirates to just seven goals on the day, including hold ECU to only two goals in the first half. Cara Trombetta kept East Carolina’s Megan Tryniski to just 1-of-3 shooting to anchor the defense.
As a team, the Gators recorded 13 caused turnovers, led by three from Trombetta and Dabkowski. Bresnahan and Becky Browndorf each tallied two CTs on the afternoon – career-bests for them both.
Trombetta, Dabkowski and Browndorf led the way for Florida with three groundballs apiece.
Sarah Reznick had another strong day in the cage for the Gators, coming up with five saves and allowing only three goals for a .625 save percentage. Julia Hammerschlag registered one save in her 14:30 in between the pipes.
The Gators have approached their conference bye week, with the team’s next series coming on April 16/18 against Vanderbilt at Donald R. Dizney Stadium.
VANDERBILT 16, OLD DOMINION 5
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Senior Gabby Fornia celebrated Senior Day by breaking her own single-season school assists record and guided Vanderbilt women's lacrosse to its ninth straight win, 19-2, over Old Dominion on Saturday afternoon.
Vanderbilt (11-2, 6-0 AAC) extended the second-longest winning streak in school history and is one win shy of tying the school record set in 2010. The nine straight wins are tied for the fourth-longest active winning streak in the nation.
Fornia wasted no time tallying her record-setting 37th assist of the season. She dished to Griffin Gearhardt for the first goal of the game at the 26:15 mark as the Commodores, who also improved to 7-0 at home this season, jumped out to a 5-0 lead.
Old Dominion (3-10, 1-5) broke the shut out with 6:59 remaining in the opening half, but senior Elizabeth Scarrone scored the final goal before intermission for a 6-1 lead at the break.
Vanderbilt broke the game open with the first eight goals of the second half.
Senior defender Nicki Dadino celebrated Senior Day with the first goal of her career. She scooped up a loose ball and found the back of the net for an 11-1 lead with 22:54 to play.
In all, 12 different Commodores scored a goal as freshman Haley Gochnauer added the first of her career to make it 16-2 with just under eight minutes remaining.
Fornia finished with five assists and a pair of goals, while classmate Gearhardt added a hat trick and an assist. Fellow senior Cassidy Orban had two goals and an assist.
Bri Gross and Paige Finneran led Vandy with three draw controls apiece.
Sophomore Paige Gunning made seven saves and allowed just two goals in 54 1/2 minutes to go along with a team-best three ground balls, while freshman Lindsey Maxwell made a save in the final minutes.
Vanderbilt has a 13-day break before heading to Gainesville, Florida, to take on No. 10 Florida on Friday, April 16 at 3 p.m. CT and Sunday, April 18 at noon CT.