Freshman draw
specialist Shannon Gilroy (Northport,
N.Y.) scored seven goals and greatly contributed to the Gators’ 18-5 slant on
draw controls to help lead the Gators past top-ranked Northwestern, 14-7, to
claim their first-ever American Lacrosse Conference Tournament title. ALC
Tournament Most Valuable Player Mikey Meagher (Liverpool, N.Y.) made nine stops in the cage, and
once again held Northwestern to just seven goals, tying the season-low seven NU
scored against Florida two weeks ago. Heading into the NCAA Tournament, both
teams hold a 17-2 overall record.
“I'm just
really, really proud of this program,” said Head Coach Amanda O’Leary. “First, I'd really like to thank all of the fans.
Last night we had more than 1,000 fans here. It was such an amazing momentum
builder for us to walk out onto that field and see all of our fans there for
us. Again, today, we had amazing support from the community and it just made me
really proud to be a Florida Gator. I'd like to thank the fans and community –
I'm really proud of our team today. They came out and persevered after a tough
game last night and played a really solid 60 minutes, and that’s what we asked
them to do. I'm really happy.”
The Wildcats
have lost just nine games since the start of 2005, three of which were to the
University of Florida. After capturing the 2012 ALC regular-season title in
Evanston, Ill., with an 8-7 victory over the ‘Cats on April 21, Florida did it
again, downing NU by their largest margin of defeat since 2003. Additionally,
with their two wins over Northwestern this year, Florida is the first team
since the reforming of the Wildcats in the 2002 to defeat the ‘Cats twice in
the same season.
Freshman
Shannon Gilroy had a standout performance in the midfield, scoring seven goals,
nabbing three draw controls, and helping the Gators to dominate on the draw,
running to an 18-5 team advantage.
“Shannon is
excellent at what she does,” said O’Leary. “She’s a draw specialist. She came
up against three players from Northwestern that are all excellent draw takers.
If she wasn’t winning it herself, I think we counted on Nora (Barry) and
Brittany (Dashiell) and Kayla (Stolins) to come up with the balls, and I think
they were able to do so.”
Kitty
Cullen (Rockville, Md.), who scored six
goals against Northwestern on April 14, 2011, in the Gators’ first marquee
victory, notched three goals and an assist today, while classmate Caroline
Chesterman (South Nyack, N.Y.) put up two
goals and an assist.
Gilroy, Brittany
Dashiell (Bel Air, Md.) and Kayla
Stolins (Glen Arm, Md.) each had three
draw controls, and Stolins, Sam Farrell (Millersville, Md.) and Jamie Reeg (Atlantis, Fla.) caused a pair of turnovers apiece.
Additionally, Reeg marked 2011 Tewaaraton Award winner Shannon Smith, and ended
her nation-leading 62-game scoring streak, holding her without a point for the
first time since the 2010 season opener.
“Jamie is a
tremendous defender,” O’Leary said. “We typically put her up against the best
crease attacker that we’re going to come across and she’s done a fantastic job
for us each and every game. She’s solid, she has great footwork and she’s a
tall person so she can cover a lot of ground. She’s just really smart. We’ve
got a keeper in Jamie.”
Mikey Meagher
made nine saves in the game, earning a combined .560 save percentage in the two
games of the ALC Tournament.
“It’s
definitely a good feeling,” Meagher said of being named MVP, “but this is
shared with my team. The win wouldn’t have happened without the defense and
without Shannon. It’s really a team effort – not an individual one – but I am
very happy to receive the award.
Florida did
not allow an assist to either opponent in the ALC Tournament, and for the
second straight time against Northwestern, the Gators gave up just two goals
from the field with the remaining five coming on free-position plays.
Junior Amanda
Macaluso led the Wildcats with three goals in the game, adding two ground balls
and a caused turnover. Midfielder Gabriella Flibotte caused three turnovers and
recorded three ground balls, and Taylor Thornton added a pair of goals and two
forced TO.
Brianne
LoManto, who led the nation in goals-against average entering the week, made
six saves and allowed 11 goals in the first 49:23, and Bridget Bianco gave up
the final three goals in the last 10:37.
Kayla Stolins
won the opening draw, and just 41 seconds into the ALC Championship game,
Brittany Dashiell passed up the Caroline Chesterman right in front of the net
for the first goal of the game.
Kara Mupo
evened score on a free-position goal at 25:08, but back-to-back goals by
Shannon Gilroy and a pair of free-position goals by Kitty Cullen gave the
Gators a 5-1 lead, which they never relinquished the rest of the game.
Taylor
Thornton netted a free-position goal at 5:33, but Cullen set up Gilroy in the
arc at 3:03 to regain the four-goal lead. Amanda Macaluso notched her first of
three on the afternoon with 21 seconds remaining in the first half, but Shannon
Gilroy got the ensuing draw to Nicole Graziano (Mendham, N.J.) who sent it back to Gilroy down inside the fan who
netted one more before the horn sounded, heading to the locker room with a
comfortable, 7-3, lead.
Macaluso
chipped away at the Gators’ lead early in the second half with a pair of goals
in the first seven minutes, but a 3-0 run featuring goals by Dashiell,
Chesterman and Cullen gave UF an 11-5 lead with 12:44 to play, pushing an NU
comeback nearly out of reach.
The Wildcats
scored two of the next three, but a pair of late goals by Gilroy and ALC Rookie
of the Year Nora Barry (Marcellus, N.Y)
put it away, as the Gators won their first-ever American Lacrosse Tournament
Championship by a final score of 14-7.
Florida
goalkeeper Mikey Meagher was named the ALC All-Tournament MVP, after making 14
saves while allowing just 11 goals for a .560 save percentage in the two games.
Shannon Gilroy, Jamie Reeg, Sam Farrell and Brittany Dashiell were among the 14
conference players named to the All-Tournament team.
The Gators
will find out their NCAA Tournament draw on Sunday night, with the Selection
Show airing on NCAA.com at 9 p.m. With today’s win, Florida claimed one of the
eight automatic qualifying bids, joining ACC champion Maryland, BIG EAST
champion Loyola, who upset No. 2 Syracuse, 13-7, this afternoon, and America East
champion Albany.
Penn will
host Dartmouth tomorrow at noon for the Ivy League Championship, while three
play-in games will take place this weekend to decide the final automatic
qualifiers. Oregon (MPSF) hosts Navy (Patroit) today at 4 p.m. followed by
Monmouth (NEC) at Towson (CAA) at 7 p.m. Massachusetts (A-10) will host
Canisius (MAAC) tomorrow at noon for the final AQ. The eight at-large bids
along with tournament seeding and game sites will be announced during the
Selection Show, as 16 teams will face off beginning Saturday, May 12, on a
quest for Stony Brook and a National Championship.
