It
was a not so happy trip to Happy Valley as No. 2 Florida lacrosse couldn’t
overcome a sluggish second half to suffer its first loss of the season at No.
10/9 Penn State, 16-11, on Saturday. The Nittany Lions defeat the Gators for
the first time in five meetings between the two teams.
The
Gators (13-1, 1-1 ALC) struggled in the second half, as Penn State outscored
the Gators in the period, 10-2. Florida only mustered three shots in the second
period, but converting two goals on those shots. Penn State used two scoring
streaks in the second half, one six goal run and three-straight goals to close
out the game, to overcome the Orange and Blue.
Senior
attack Gabi Wiegand (Bay Shore, N.Y.) led the offense with four points
including a hat trick on the afternoon. Sophomore midfielder Shannon Gilroy
(Northport, N.Y.), senior midfielder Brittany Dashiell (Bel Air,
Md.) and senior attack Ashley Bruns (Ellicot City, Md.) all chipped in
two goals apiece to help the Gators score 11 goals on the day.
Taking
a 9-6 lead into the break, Florida couldn’t win a draw, as it lost draw
controls 15-12 in the game and 9-2 in the second half. The Nittany Lions (7-3,
2-0) took control of the game at the 23:14 mark rattling off six-straight goals
using a series of stalls throughout the final period.
“Penn
State certainly dominated the draw control and I give all the credit to them
because I think they did a great job of isolating us, and we didn’t accomplish
what we wanted to today,” Head coach Amanda O’Leary said.
Senior
attack Kitty Cullen (Rockville, Md.) scored the final Orange and Blue
goal of the game with 5:26 left to play. Senior goalie Mikey Meagher (Liverpool,
N.Y.) played the entire game in goal, recording eight saves.
Florida’s
offense shined in the first half as Wiegand got started early, scoring the
game’s first goal with 28:18 to play on an assist by senior defender Sam
Farrell. Farrell made the clear and taking into the offensive half of the field
and records her first assist since 2010.
Dashiell
would give the Gators a quick 2-0 lead with a goal of her own but Penn State
responded with back-to-back goals at the 26:22 mark.
The
Lions would respond with back-to-back goals, knotting the score at two apiece
less than six minutes into the contest on goals from Tatum Coffey and Kelly
Lechner.
Gilroy
helped the Orange and Blue regain the lead with a goal inside the eight meter
circle and followed up by finding Wiegand for a 4-2 lead. Florida held their
largest lead of the game of three goals twice in the first half.
“Offensively
we did a good job finding the back of the net but again, credit to Penn State
for coming out with a good defensive plan,” O’Leary said.
The
two teams went nearly goal-for-goal as Bruns would score the final goal of the
first half. Florida is now 45-4 in games when leading at the half.
With
the loss, UF snaps a 24 game regular season win streak and 11 game conference
win streak that dated back to May 7, 2010.
