A 4-point
effort from Gabi Wiegand (Bay Shore,
N.Y.) and a stellar performance by the Gator defense led the Florida lacrosse
team past the undefeated, top-ranked Northwestern Wildcats, 8-7, to capture the
Gators’ second-straight American Lacrosse Conference regular-season title.
“It’s
amazing,” said standout defender Sam Farrell (Rockville, Md.) “Words can’t even describe how we’re all feeling
right now. We’ve worked so hard for this. They’re undefeated, they haven’t had
a loss on their home field in years, so it just feels amazing.”
The No. 5
Gators took on the unanimously top-ranked ‘Cats in their first-ever matchup
with a No. 1 team and pulled out the upset over an undefeated Northwestern
squad for the second year in a row. With the win, the Gators finish the regular
season with a 15-2 overall record and their second-straight 5-0 ALC campaign.
Northwestern takes its first loss in 24 games, dropping to 14-1 (4-1 ALC).
“I think this
will certainly give us a huge boost, confidence-wise,” said Head Coach
Amanda O’Leary, “in the sense that we were
able to play hard and compete with the number one team in the country. It was a
hard-fought battle by both teams, and credit both of them.”
Wiegand led
the Gators with a total of four points on the afternoon, recording two goals
and two assists including the game-winner with under six minutes to go in the
second half. Ashley Bruns (Ellicott
City, Md.) and Brittany Dashiell
(Bel Air, Md.) each scored a pair of goals, and Nora Barry (Marcellus, N.Y.) put up a goal and an assist. Kitty
Cullen (Rockville, Md.) drove in a goal in
the first half, and Nicole Graziano
(Mendham, N.J.) assisted the game-tyer late in the second.
Sam Farrell
anchored a remarkable Florida defense, scooping up three ground balls and causing
three big turnovers. Dashiell added another three ground balls and Shannon
Gilroy (Northport, N.Y.) had a team-high
three draw controls.
Erin
Fitzgerald led the Wildcats with two goals and an assist, all on free position,
and Shannon Smith found the back of the net twice. Gabriella Filbotte dazzled
in the midfield, notching five draw controls, three ground balls and a goal,
and Alex Frank caused two key turnovers.
“They’re so
competitive, they’re such good lacrosse players and they’re so smart,” O’Leary
said in praise of the Wildcats. “This Northwestern team, they’re excellent, so
you could never take a breath, even when we were up 5-2. I said they were going
to make adjustments at halftime, and they did. I just think their coaching
staff does a great job and we just needed to defensively come out, play
smarter, eliminate the fouls and hopefully be able to come up with some big
saves, and I thought Mikey did a great job of coming up with some huge saves.”
The nation’s
leader in save percentage, Mikey Meagher
(Liverpool, N.Y.), made seven saves in the game and held the ‘Cats to their
lowest goal total of the year, while national GAA leader Brianne LoManto turned
aside six shots.
“Mikey played
a great game,” O’Leary said. “This was a stellar game for her. I thought she
saw the ball really well. I thought she reacted really well to shots that were
being taken, where they were being taken. I thought she did a great job of
moving our defense and communicating to them.”
Shannon
Gilroy, facing draw specialist Alyssa Leonard, won the opening draw, and just
over a minute into the game, Brittany Dashiell put the Gators on the board with
a line drive from the right side. Ashley Bruns then netted a quick stick from
Wiegand on the following possession to jump out to an early 2-0 lead.
At 24:51,
Shannon Smith scored the first Wildcat goal, assisted by Casey Bocklet, and a
minute and a half later, Taylor Thornton netted a free-position goal to tie the
score at two.
The score
wasn’t tied for long, as Kitty Cullen snagged the next draw out of mid-air and
drove right into the goal to put UF back on top just nine seconds later. Gabi
Wiegand extended the lead back to two on a free-position goal, and after a
16-minute scoring drought, Wiegand found Dashiell making a cut across the arc
to head into intermission riding a 5-2 lead.
The Wildcats
emerged from the locker room a new team, scoring three goals in a 57-second
span to tie the score at five. Erin Fitzgerald netted back-to-back
free-position goals 40 seconds apart, and Filbotte knotted the score on an
unassisted drive off the draw.
A foul inside
the 8-meter arc on Northwestern’s defensive end put the ball in Nora Barry’s
hand, who sent a quick pass to Bruns left of the crease, which she netted on a
crossing shot to put the Gators back in front, 6-5.
Northwestern
mimicked UF’s free position play twice over the next five minutes, and at
20:51, Fitzgerald found Smith on an 8-meter attempt to hand the ‘Cats their
first lead of the day, up 7-6.
The Wildcats
were in front for just 57 seconds, when Nicole Graziano connected with Nora
Barry from the left side of the fan at 19:54, to tie the score once again, 7-7.
The game
remained tied for a nail-biting 14 minutes, but with 5:47 to play, Gabi Wiegand
drove into the arc and found the top-left corner of the net to give the Gators
an 8-7 advantage.
NU controlled
the ensuing draw, but after a Smith shot sailed wide, Sam Farrell created a
huge turnover to put the ball back in Florida’s possession. The Gators were
unable to run out the rest of the clock, as NU regained possession twice more
before the final whistle blew. However, the Florida defense held the ‘Cats
without a shot for the remainder of the game, to bring ALC regular-season title
back to Gainesville for the second-straight year with a final score of 8-7.
