Senior
attackers Ashley Bruns (Ellicott City, Md.) and Kitty Cullen (Rockville,
Md.) led No. 3 Florida lacrosse with five goals apiece, guiding their team to a
19-9 win over Johns Hopkins Saturday at Dizney Stadium. UF improved to 14-1
overall and 2-1 in American Lacrosse Conference action in front of a
season-high crowd of 816 on a beautiful day in Gainesville.
Bruns
and Cullen tied season-highs with six and seven points, respectively, while sophomore
midfielder Shannon Gilroy (Northport, N.Y.) chipped in two goals helping
Florida rebound off a loss last week to Penn State.
“You’re
always worried how a team is going to respond after a loss and I thought they
responded really well today,” Head coach Amanda O’Leary said. “We
started off fast out of the locker room, which is exactly what we needed them
to do.”
Four
Gators scored multiple goals for the largest margin of victory over the Blue
Jays (7-5, 1-2 ALC) in their five game series history. Florida improved to 4-1
all-time over Hopkins, winning the last four meetings.
Gilroy
got the Gators on the board first, scoring six minutes into the first half.
Hopkins responded on a goal of their own from Jenna Reifler assisted by Taylor
D’Amore but that’s as close as they could get as Florida responded with four unanswered
goals to take a 5-1 lead. Bruns scored back-to-back goals while senior attack Gabi
Wiegand (Bay Shore, N.Y) put a free position attempt in the back of the net
and Cullen scored her first of the day all in a four minute and ten second
span.
Wiegand
scored four goals on five shots while Gilroy added two goals, helping their
team score the second-most goals in a game this season.
O’Leary
credited
Cullen with coming out firing against Hopkins, providing the spark the
Gators needed to record their 14th win of the season. In all, Florida
was able
outshoot its opponent 36-15, firing off 18 shots in both periods.
“Kitty
was phenomenal today and did exactly what we needed,” O’Leary said. “She went
to the goal hard, created some opportunities for us with fast breaks and was
able to finish her shot.”
Hopkins
scored with 17:28 to play but Florida again responded with a 3-0 run to hold its
largest lead of the first half on a Bruns goal on a dish by senior middie Brittany
Dashiell (Bel Air, Md.). Dashiell and senior attack Caroline Chesterman (South
Nyack, N.Y.) each led with two assists on the afternoon.
Chesterman
opened the second half with a goal off a feed from Bruns before Hopkins fired
back with a goal at the 25:30 mark. But UF would go on another 3-0 run with
goals from Bruns, Cullen and Wiegand to take a 12-6 lead with 20:03.
Hopkins
strung together back-to-back goals at the 16:13 and 14:40 marks, but it was
Florida’s offense that again did the work answering with five-straight goals
for a 17-8 lead with 10:10 to play.
Dashiell
and Gilroy helped pace Florida with four draw controls each, as UF won draw
controls (20-10) and ground balls (26-20). Bruns picked up a team-high four
ground balls while Dashiell and Cullen each had three.
Senior
goalie Mikey Meagher (Liverpool, N.Y.) recorded 60:00 in the cage
Saturday afternoon, recording five saves on 15 shots by the Blue Jays.
