The
University of Florida lacrosse team put together a tremendous comeback in the
final three minutes of regulation, but No. 9 Syracuse had the final say, as the
Orange defeated the Gators, 12-11, in double overtime. The win lifts the Orange
to 2-2, while the Gators fall to 4-2.
“It was a tough
game,” said Head Coach Amanda O’Leary.
“We got ourselves in a hole early and I don’t think we came out and competed.
Against a team like this, or against any team, you have to come out with a fire
and we didn’t.
Brittany
Dashiell (Bel Air, Md.) led the Gators
with three goals, an assist, six draw controls and a team-season-high five
ground balls. Nora Barry
(Marcellus, N.Y.) and Gabi Wiegand
(Bay Shore, N.Y.) both had a pair of goals, and Kitty Cullen (Rockville, Md.) and Ashley Bruns (Ellicott City, Md.) each put up a goal and an
assist. Freshmen Nicole Graziano
(Mendham, N.J.) and Shannon Gilroy
(Huntington, N.Y.) had the remaining two goals, and Caroline
Chesterman (South Nyack, N.Y.) added an
assist.
On the
defensive end, Jamie Reeg (Atlantis,
Fla.) forced a career-high-tying three turnovers and Mikey Meagher (Liverpool, N.Y.) made 10 saves in the complete
game, playing a career-high 66:55 in the cage.
Sarah Holden
led the offense for the Orange, scoring three goals, and Katie Webster and
Devon Collins each notched two. Michelle Tumolo added a goal and two of
Syracuse’s three assists. Alyssa Costantino held down the back line for the
Orange, stopping 13 shots in her first complete game of the season.
The Gators
outdid the Orange in just about every statistical category, including
outshooting them, 39-26. However, UF had just two more shots on goal than
Syracuse, narrowly leading 24-22. Additionally, the Orange turned the ball over
20 times, while Florida lost possession on just nine occurrences.
“I think what
we need to learn from it is the fact that, one – you have to go hard from the
beginning, and two – you have to take care of the ball,” said O’Leary. “We had
39 opportunities to score the ball today.
You look at that, generating 39 shots, that’s a great offensive game
plan. We created opportunities for
them to score but they have to do it; they have to put the ball in the back of
the net.
“Give their
goalie credit, I thought she played a super game and made some great saves. But
39 opportunities, that was wasted.
If you look at all of the rest of the stats, we dominated those stats. I
think it was just a tough game.”
Michelle
Tumolo got the scoring started just over a minute into the game, shoveling in a
low shot from close in on the right at 28:35. Tumolo’s goal marked the first of
four straight for ‘Cuse, and the Orange soon owned a 4-0 lead.
The Gators
were far from throwing in the towel, and at 12:48, Kitty Cullen drove the ball
into the 12-meter fan and sent a crossing pass to Shannon Gilroy at the top of
the arc, who fought off a double-team defense to put the ball in the back of
the net. Five minutes later, Chesterman connected with Dashiell from behind the
net, who sent a one-timer past Costantino to cut the Orange lead in half, down
4-2.
“I think in
the first 15 or 20 minutes we weren’t ready,” Dashiell said. “Our heads just
weren’t in the game, and after that we brought it together, regrouped, and
started playing as a team again as we know how to play.”
Sarah Holden
got one back for Syracuse, but Dashiell found the back of the net again at
4:21, juking an Orange defender and netting an open shot at 4:21. Gabi Wiegand
chipped away further at the Orange advantage, scoring an unassisted goal with
45 seconds to go in the half and bringing the Gators within one, 5-4.
However,
Devon Collins pulled out a sixth goal just 32 seconds later, to give Syracuse a
6-4 lead heading into the break.
Kirkland
Locey won the opening draw of the second half, and soon Katie Webster scored
her first goal of the afternoon, pushing Syracuse ahead, 7-4.
A yellow card
to Bridget Daley at 26:51 gave the Gators a man-up opportunity and before the
end of the advantage, Ashley Bruns capitalized on a ‘Cuse turnover, feeding
Gabi Wiegand from behind the goal cage for the Gators’ fifth score.
After close
to seven minutes with no scoring, the Gators found themselves on another man-up
opportunity. Brittany Dashiell drove the ball in to the top of the 12-meter fan
and sent a crossing pass to Nicole Graziano on the left of the goal, who
brought the Gators back within one, 7-6.
The Orange’s
fouls continued to hurt them, as at 13:20, Nora Barry recorded a free-position
goal, completing the comeback and tying the score at seven.
The score
remained tied for close to five minutes, until Syracuse went on a three-goal
tear over less than two minutes and soon led, 10-7.
Time was
running out for the Gators, but ‘it ain’t over til it’s over.’ Nora Barry
recorded a second free-position goal at 2:43 to restore Florida’s momentum.
Dashiell then won the next draw and drove the ball into Syracuse’s zone. She
got the ball to Ashley Bruns, who ran around the back of the goal and sent a
wraparound shot into the far corner of the goal just 29 seconds later to pull
back within one.
The clock
continued to tick, but with 53 seconds to go in regulation, Kitty Cullen drove
the ball down from the midfield and ripped a bullet through triple-team defense
to tie the score at 10 and the send the game into overtime.
Sixteen
seconds into the extra period, Natalie Glanell was sent to the penalty area
with the Orange’s fourth yellow card of the afternoon. However, the Gators were
unable to capitalize on the opportunity, and with 48 seconds to go in the first
half of overtime, Sarah Holden scored a man-down goal to put Syracuse ahead,
11-10.
Though they
did not score on the man-up opportunity, the Gators soon capitalized on another
Syracuse error, as Dashiell laced in a free-position goal at 1:33 to tie the
score at 11 and send the game into a sudden death double-overtime period.
‘Cuse’s
Bridget Daley won the opening draw in double overtime, and 55 seconds later,
sophomore Katie Webster put the game away, scoring the game-winner for the
Orange two hours and 35 minutes after the opening whistle.
“They didn’t
quit,” O’Leary remarked. “If there is a positive to come out, it would be that
they didn’t quit. They got down
and clawed their way back. I just
hoped that we would have the heart to pull out the win after working so hard to
get the tying goal, that we would have had enough in us to score the game
winner.”
