The rain was coming down hard at Donald R. Dizney Stadium,
but nothing could stop Ashley Bruns
(Ellicott City, Md.), as she became the second Gator in team history to pass
the century mark this evening, recording her 100th career goal en route to a
school-record eight goals and 11 total points to help lead Florida to its
highest goal total ever, defeating the Siena College Saints, 23-5. The win
lifts Florida to 3-1, while Siena opens the year, 0-1.
Bruns, Kitty Cullen (Rockville, Md.) and Brittany Dashiell (Bel Air, Md.) were all named to the 2012 Tewaaraton
Trophy Watch List earlier this week, and the trio certainly backed up their
nominations tonight. Bruns netted eight goals on just nine shots and put up
three assists to pass her own school record with 11 points. Fellow All-American
Cullen was not far behind, scoring five goals and two assists, and Dashiell had
three goals, a draw control and a ground ball.
Gabi Wiegand
(Bay Shore, N.Y.) recorded two goals and an assist, Erin Graziano (Mendham, N.J.) notched her first two points of the
season with a goal and an assist, and her sister Nicole Graziano (Mendham, N.J.) chipped in a goal as well. Freshmen Shannon
Gilroy (Huntington, N.Y.) and Nora
Barry (Marcellus, N.Y.) both played
strong in the midfield, as Gilroy had two goals and a school-record-tying six
draw controls, and Barry notched four ground balls, four draw controls, a goal
and an assist. Fellow-rookie Sally Jentis (Ridgewood, N.J.) also tallied four draw controls, leading the Gators
to a program-record 23 total.
Kitty Cullen got the Gators off to a hot start, scoring
the first two goals of the game with just over two minutes off the clock. Sam
Farrell (Millersville, Md.) scooped up
a Siena turnover and tossed the ball to Jentis, who drove the ball downfield
and flipped it to Cullen for the first goal. Wiegand won the following draw and
tossed it straight to Cullen, who shot it in just seven seconds later, marking the
fastest a single women’s lacrosse player has scored back-to-back goals in NCAA
history.
Shannon Pfohl put Siena on the board just under a
minute later, but Dashiell responded with the Gators’ third goal after just 30
more seconds. Less than a minute later, Bruns scored her first goal of the
night to join Cullen as the second Gator to reach the century mark in career goals.
Siena’s Deirdre McQuillan fought back at 23:56, faking
out the Gators’ defense and finding herself an empty net to cut the Gators’
lead to two. However, UF then exploded to score six goals in less than five
minutes to jump out to an early 10-2 lead.
The Saints mustered three more goals before the end of
the half, but went to the locker room trailing, 14-5.
Cara Canington (Bel Air, Md.) replaced Mikey Meagher (Liverpool, N.Y.) in the goal cage after the break,
who made three saves in the first half, and went on to make three saves while
holding the Saints scoreless through the entire second half.
At 11:30, Nicole Graziano gave Florida its 20th goal of
the game, a total UF had not reached since 2010. With 3:03 remaining in the
game, Caroline Chesterman (South
Nyack, N.Y.) served up Wiegand, as she netted the Gators’ program-record 23rd
goal. UF had scored 22 goals twice, both in March of 2010.
Michelle Andreo and Shannon Pfohl each scored two goals
for the Saints, and Deirdre McQuillan earned a goal and an assist. Preseason
All-MAAC goalkeeper Kristin Concordia made six saves in the complete game.
