In an all-out
defensive battle, the Florida Gators fought their way to the top, defeating No.
14 Ohio State, 5-4, in the American Lacrosse Conference Tournament Semifinals.
Buckeye freshman Tori DeScenza made 15 saves in the game, but the Gators’ back
line limited OSU to just nine shots on goal, to pull out the one-goal victory.
With the win, the third-ranked Gators improve to 16-2 (5-0 ALC) and will face
No. 1 Northwestern (17-1, 4-1 ALC) in the ALC Championship on Saturday at 12:30
p.m. NU’s only loss this year came to UF in Evanston just two weeks ago. Ohio
State falls in the ALC Semifinals for the third time in four years, owning an
11-6 (1-4 ALC) record.
“What a great
job Ohio State did,” said Head Coach Amanda O’Leary, “an incredibly well-coached program. We knew going
into this game that they were going to have some tricks up their sleeve and
they did. They kept us on our heels the entire game. Credit them with a really
hard-fought game out there today. I’m just really pleased that we came out with
a win tonight.”
After
freshmen Nora Barry (Marcellus, N.Y.)
and Shannon Gilroy (Northport,
N.Y.) combined for six of the Gators’ 10 goals at Ohio State back in March,
Barry and fellow-rookie Nicole Graziano (Mendham, N.J.) each put up a pair of goals this evening, while junior
middie Brittany Dashiell (Bel
Air, Md.) scored the remaining goal and notched two assists. Gabi
Wiegand (Bay Shore, N.Y.) and Caroline
Chesterman (South Nyack, N.Y.) tallied an
additional assist apiece.
Junior
defender Emily Dohony tied the Gators’ season high with six ground balls in the
game, while Barry set a new single-season record in the game, notching five
ground balls to break Dashiell’s 2010 record of 38, now owning 41. Shannon
Gilroy nabbed three of the Gators’ seven draw controls, also setting a new
season record with 63. Dohony and Dashiell anchored the UF back line that held
the Buckeyes to just nine shots on goal, each causing three turnovers to
contribute to the Gators’ season-best 11 forced TOs.
“I think we
counted on our defense to come up with a lot of big plays,” O’Leary said. “We
limited their offensive firepower and that was a spark. Ultimately, I credit
this group because in years past, we may not have come out victorious in a game
like this. They’re maturing, they have great leadership out there and they work
really, really well together. They’re unselfish and with all of that and their
maturity, it certainly made a difference tonight.”
Ohio State’s
Alayna Markwordt broke through the Gators’ defense three times, and fellow-senior
Gabby Capuzzi netted the Buckeyes’ final goal with just seven seconds left in
regulation.
“Credit to
Alayna,” Ohio State Head Coach Alexis Venechanos said. “She continues to have
the best defender in the nation every game we play against. Credit to her she
is able to continue to play her best and get her teammates involved. When she
has the shots she will take the shots and she did a great job of reading that.
Jamie Reeg did an excellent job on her, and Alayna still got her teammates
involved and still was able to put some goals on the board for us.”
Tayler Kuzma
led the Buckeyes with three ground balls and two caused turnovers, while Katie
Chase snagged two of OSU’s four draw controls.
Netminder
Tori DeScenza had a fantastic performance in goal, making 15 saves in 57:52,
and Cailtin Hester had a quiet 2:08 in relief. Mikey Meagher (Liverpool, N.Y.) made five saves in the game to
capture her eighth straight victory.
“I think
their goalie (Tori DeScenza) played phenomenal,” said Florida attacker Kitty
Cullen (Rockville, Md.) “She was able to
stop us all over the place and she did a really awesome job. I think we were
lucky enough to have people on our team this year like Nicole (Graziano), who
can come off the bench, give us a spark and get some goals in there. I credit
their goalie a lot; she did a really great job.”
Nora Barry
got the scoring started at 20:48 in the first half, when Gabi Wiegand tossed a
perfect pass from the left side to Barry in front of the net, earning the
second-ever man-down goal for Florida. Alayna Markwordt evened the score on a
wraparound goal just over a minute later, but Barry struck again, this time
assisted by Dashiell, to put UF back ahead, 2-1.
The remaining
18:49 of the first half featured 13 shots and six turnovers but no more points
on the board, as the Gators headed to the locker room holding a slight, 2-1,
advantage.
The scoring
drought continued another eight-and-a-half minutes at the start of the second
half, until Caroline Chesterman found Dashiell breaking in towards the goal
circle and lifted a perfect pass from the point to stun DeScenza with goal
number three.
However, the
Buckeyes were far from out of it, and at 16:46, Markwordt bounced in her second
unassisted goal to cut the lead to one. Rachel Wiederkehr won the ensuing draw,
and just 17 seconds later, Markwordt did it again, knotting the score at three.
The score
remained tied for just over four minutes, when freshman Nicole Graziano dove
through the 8-meter arc and laced in a hard line drive to give the lead back to
the Gators, and less than two minutes later, Dashiell connected with Graziano
for Florida’s fifth goal of the night, to give UF a small cushion to protect in
the final 10 minutes.
The Gators’
back line kept the Buckeyes silent for close to 10 minutes, but with 48 seconds
remaining in regulation, Jamie Reeg
(Atlantis, Fla.) headed to the bench on a yellow card. After two shots by Ohio
State, Florida seemingly gained possession of the ball, but a goal circle
violation put it back in the Buckeyes’ hands, and with seven seconds left on
the clock, Gabby Capuzzi cut the lead down to one, 5-4.
The stage was
set for an Ohio State comeback, but freshman draw specialist Shannon Gilroy
controlled the final draw and kept OSU from a chance at the game-tyer, as UF
held on to win, 5-4.
The nine-goal
combined score is by far the lowest in Florida history, surpassing the previous
low of 15 met three times, most recently at Northwestern in the 8-7 victory two
weeks ago. The Gators had been held to five goals twice before, but this was
the fewest-ever scored in a UF win.
Florida
returns to action on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. to face top-ranked, second-seeded
Northwestern in a rematch of the 2011 ALC Championship game.
“Northwestern
is a great team,” Cullen commented. “They’re No. 1 in the country for a reason.
I think they’re going to be out to get us since we just beat them a few weeks
ago. We’ve completely moved past that game and we're focused on tomorrow. We’re
going to learn from and move past tonight and get ready for tomorrow and we’re
going to focus on ourselves and get back to the basics.”
