Coming off a close loss to Georgetown, Florida could not maintain its level of competition against Johns Hopkins in its first American Lacrosse Conference match.
The Gators (3-3, 0-1 ALC) fell 16-8 to the Blue Jays on Saturday in Baltimore mostly due to a barrage of team shortcomings on both offense and defense.
Midfielder Kitty Cullen led UF with three scores while midfielders Colby Rhea and Brittany Dashiell added two each. Attacker Ashley Bruns added one score and two assists for the Gators.
UF took only 16 shots to Hopkins’ 33, had 31 turnovers to 19 by the Blue Jays, and it only converted on one of four free-position shots.
On defense, Florida could only successfully clear the ball on 12 of its 25 opportunities and allowed Hopkins’ attacker Candace Rossi to score five times on the day.
UF kept the match fairly close in the first half, trading scores with the Blue Jays early on until it took a 3-2 lead with 25:50 left in the period. Hopkins reclaimed the lead with two scores, before Dashiell tied the game with a score for UF at 9:03.
The Gators trailed by just two at the half, 5-7, but the Blue Jays continued their dominance, adding nine more scores to the Florida’s three to seal the victory.
