The
University of Florida lacrosse team made history once again this afternoon,
defeating Penn State, 15-2, in the NCAA Quarterfinals to become the youngest
program ever to earn two tournament wins and advance to the National
Semifinals. With the win, the Gators improve to 19-2 on the season, and will
face fourth-seeded Syracuse (18-3) on Friday night in Stony Brook, N.Y., in the
NCAA Semifinals. Penn State, who came in looking for its first semifinals
appearance since 1999, ends the year at 12-7.
“I’m really
proud of our program, the players, the coaches, the support staff,” said Head
Coach Amanda O’Leary. “This was a
monumental win for us. We’ve been preparing for this since we lost to Duke in
this same round last year. These young ladies have put in so much hard work.
They have the heart, they have the passion and I thought it really showed
today.
“This was 60
minutes of great lacrosse for Florida. I thought our players across the board
defensively, in the goal cage, through the midfield, in the attacking end,
absolutely I thought this was one of our best efforts.”
Tewaaraton
Award finalist Brittany Dashiell (Bel
Air, Md.) led the Gators’ balanced offense with three goals and two assists on
the day. Nora Barry (Marcellus,
N.Y.) also notched three goals, and Ashley Bruns (Ellicott City, Md.), Shannon Gilroy (Northport, N.Y.) and Kitty Cullen (Rockville, Md.) each put up two goals and an
assist. Additionally, freshman Taylor McCord (Jacksonville, Fla.) scored the final goal of the
game in her first career postseason appearance.
Shannon
Gilroy dominated on the draw once again, leading the Gators with six draw
controls and helping the team to a 15-4 team advantage on draws. With Gilroy in
the circle, the Gators have had a 43-11 edge on draw controls over the past
three games.
“When the
ball is up in the air, we’re pretty confident (Shannon)’s going to come up with
it,” O’Leary said. “When it’s on the wings we have Kayla (Stolins) and Brittany
(Dashiell). We have solid group of attackers on the back line and a solid group
of defenders who can also compete for those ground balls. Again, draw controls
are just so critical because whoever possesses the ball has the opportunity to
score.
“I think
Shannon’s a huge part of that, but I also think that we are maturing through
that competitiveness that if there’s a ground ball or if the ball is in the
air, I see these guys with a hunger of want to get that ground ball and wanting
to get that ball in the air, and I think that’s one of the biggest improvements
to our game.”
Nora Barry
was strong in the midfield, earning three draw controls and three ground balls,
and Haydon Judge (Chestertown, Md.) and
Ashley Bruns each caused a pair of turnovers.
Mikey
Meagher (Liverpool, N.Y.) stopped seven
shots and allowed just two goals as the Gators held PSU to just nine shots on
goal in the game. ALC Goalie of the Year Dana Cahill made 13 stellar saves in
the cage for Penn State, but UF’s potent offense put up 34 shots on the day, as
Cahill retires with a 22-15 career record.
“I credit
Penn State with their fantastic game plan,” O’Leary said. “They came in here,
worked hard, they were gritty, they were scrappy. Offensively, they kept us on
our heels; defensively, I thought Dana Cahill did a fantastic job in the goal
cage so I just want to credit them with a game very well played.
Haley Ford
and Lizzy Carney scored the Nittany Lions’ two goals and Mackenzie Cyr notched
their sole assist. Freshman Tatum Coffee challenged in the midfield, earning
two ground balls, a draw control and a caused turnover.
Shannon
Gilroy got the ball rolling just over two minutes in, beating out a one-on-one
drive and putting the ball into the top left corner of the net. Less than a
minute later, Gilroy was fouled at the top of the fan, and laced in goal number
two to give Florida a quick, 2-0 lead.
Haley Ford
netted a crossing shot for the Nittany Lions at 22:46, but Florida followed
with a 5-0 run featuring a pair of goals each from Dashiell and Bruns to power
ahead, 7-1.
“It’s
definitely a huge boost and a huge spark,” said Cullen on making a big run.
“Mikey will make a save at one end and it will get us more pumped up and want
to score and keep scoring; and once you score once and get the ball again, you
just want to keep going and keep going, because then we’re going to get up by
even more.”
Mackenzie Cyr
set up Lizzy Carney from the point at 6:03 to get one back for Penn State, but
Cullen put one up with 23 seconds remaining in the half to enter the break
holding a solid, 8-2 lead.
The Gators
defense was lights out in the second half, keeping the Nittany Lions off the
board for the final 36 minutes of play, marking just the fifth time in NCAA
Tournament history that a team has been held scoreless in the second half.
“The defense
is incredible,” said goalkeeper Mikey Meagher, “Every game they just get
better. To have those seven in front of me, I love them. You can’t ask for
anything more of them, because they just go out with such heart and hustle
every single game and no matter what they do, I know they have my back and I
have theirs.”
UF’s
attackers found the back of the net seven times in the second half, with the
final four goals of the game coming from Gator rookies Nora Barry, Nicole
Graziano (Mendham, N.J.) and Taylor
McCord, to earn a final score of 15-2.
“I think it’s exciting and it’s
wonderful,” O’Leary said of the team’s accomplishment, “but I think its more of
a testament to the University of Florida, Jeremy Foley, to these young ladies,
to our coaching staff, to our support staff, because it’s a whole group of
individuals. Its just not one person that decides that we’re going to make it
to the Final Four, it starts at the top and it goes all the way down and I
think these guys have bought into our system.”
The Gators
will hit the road for Stony Brook, N.Y., this week to face fourth-seeded
Syracuse University (18-3) in the NCAA Semifinals on Friday, May 25. The Orange
defeated fifth-seeded North Carolina this afternoon in a nail-biting 17-16
contest, as Tewaaraton finalist Michelle Tumolo put up the game-winner with
just five seconds remaining in regulation.
The
University of Maryland was the first team to advance this afternoon, defeating
Loyola, 17-11, and will face the winner of tonight’s quarterfinal matchup
between Northwestern and Duke in the other semifinal game. The first semifinal
will begin at 5:30 p.m. with the second game beginning at approximately 8 p.m.
Both games will be broadcast on ESPN3.
“We’re so
blessed here,” said O’Leary. “We have tremendous fans who come out each and
every game so it’s a tremendous accomplishment and one that I’m incredibly,
incredibly proud of. But we have some more work today and I hope that I can
stand up here in a little while and say this wasn’t the most proud moment. We
still have a couple more.”
