Another
top-five matchup awaits No. 3 Florida on Saturday, as it hosts ALC rival and
defending national champion No. 4 Northwestern for Senior Day. Opening draw is
set for 12 p.m. at Donald R. Dizney Stadium.
The
Gators will honor 13 members of the senior class and two managers after
Saturday’s game, and is the first four-year class of seniors in program
history. 11 of those players were part of the inaugural recruiting class that
was ranked No. 1 in the country.
Overall, this senior class holds a 60-16 overall record and 19-7 in ALC play. They have won
two ALC regular season titles and an ALC tournament championship while making
an appearance in two-straight NCAA tournaments and a Final Four appearance in
2012.
The
game will be a decisive game for the ALC title and seeding for the tournament
on May 2-5 in Baltimore, Md. Florida can
share a portion of the league title with Northwestern with a win, but other
games around the league will determine seeding. The matchup between Johns
Hopkins and Ohio State on Sunday as well as the league regular season finale
with Johns Hopkins and Penn State on April 27 will all factor into how the
tournament is seeded.
Florida
is coming off a 21-10 win over ALC member Vanderbilt in Nashville on
Sunday. Senior attack Ashley Bruns (Ellicott City, Md.) was
on fire, connecting for eight goals on nine shots posting a career and
program-high in goals in the win. Senior
midfielder Brittany Dashiell (Bel
Air, Md.) recorded a career-high seven draw controls while the Florida defense
recorded a single-game high 20 turnovers.
The
Orange and Blue (15-1, 3-1 ALC) are led by senior attack Kitty Cullen (Rockville, Md.) with 50 points (37 goals, 13 assists)
and sophomore midfielder Shannon Gilroy (Northport,
N.Y.) leads with 39 goals and 45 draw controls. Six Gators each have 20 goals
or more including Cullen, Gilroy, Bruns, Dashiell, senior attack Gabi Wiegand (Bay Shore, N.Y.) and
sophomore midfielder Nora Barry (Marcellus,
N.Y.).
Florida
seniors Sam Farrell (Millersville,
Md.) and Emily Dohony (Parkton, Md.)
anchor the defense as Farrell posts a team-high 17 caused turnovers and 18
ground balls while Dohony has a team-high 28 ground balls, 10 caused turnovers
and seven draws.
The defending national champions bring an 11-game win streak into
Gainesville on Saturday. Their lone loss of the season came against UNC on
February 22nd in Chapel Hill. They are led by senior attack Erin Fitzgerald
with 51 points on a team-leading 46 goals and five assists. Fitzgerald is backed by middies Alyssa
Leonard, Amanda Macaluso and Taylor Thornton who have
all chipped in 20 goals apiece. The ‘Cats bring the fifth-ranked defense with
them, allowing just 7.29 goals per game.
They also have the sixth-best scoring margin (6.36 gpg.),
13th ranked offense (13.64 gpg.) and are 14th in draw
controls (13.86). Northwestern is coming off two wins at Lakeside last week
against then No. 4 Duke and No. 15 Stanford.
UF
holds a 3-2 advantage in the all-time series including winning the last two
meetings. Those two wins were significant for Florida, as they defeated the
Wildcats, 8-7, on April 21, 2012 in Evanston to win their second-consecutive
ALC title. They turned around to return to the championship game of the ALC
tournament on May 5, 2012 where Florida powered past the ‘Cats, 14-7 to win
their first tournament championship. UF
holds a 2-0 advantage inside Dizney Stadium.
Both
teams are ranked in the top five of both major polls, with Florida coming in at
No.3 and No. 4 in the IWLCA
Coaches’ Poll and ILWomen/deBeer Media Poll,
respectively, while Northwestern comes in at No. 4/2.
