If there was any doubt that Florida had moved on from its devastating loss to North Carolina, the Gators dispelled it with a convincing 22-11 win over St. Bonaventure on Thursday night.
Donald R. Dizney Stadium was UF’s playground as it scored 15 of its 22 points in the first half, one goal shy of its previous game-high total of 16 this season.
A pair of freshmen led the charge for UF coach Amanda O’Leary’s squad.
Attacker Ashley Bruns had five scores and two assists while midfielder Julie Schindel tacked on four goals and one assist.
Midfielder Caroline Chesterman scored three times, and midfielders Kitty Cullen, Sam Farrell, Rachael Zimmerman and attacker Janine Hillier each tacked on two.
The Gators (3-1) started the game focused on bouncing back from the loss at UNC.
The team scored its first goal less than 30 seconds into the game and followed with another 18 seconds later to take a 2-0 lead with 29:14 remaining in the first half.
Bruns scored three of UF’s first four goals and continued to thrive from her position behind the goal throughout the half. She scored her fifth goal with 8:39 left in the period.
Schindel then took over where Bruns left off, scoring her first goal at 8:17 and helping the Gators take a 15-8 lead into the intermission.
In the second half, Schindel scored the first goal, and later added another along with an assist for the win.
“We wanted to basically show everyone that we’re the kind of team that after a tough loss (is) going to come out, and we’re going to go hard, and we’re going to win; not just win, but win big,” Schindel said.
She added that the team was pumped up from the start of the match because it wanted to make up for what happened against the Tar Heels.
The coaches wanted to see how the young players would respond after they loss and to have a more effective scoring attack early in the game.
However, the Gators still showed they have plenty of room to grow.
“Our nemesis is putting people on the 8-meter arc line, and we’re not coming up with saves, and we’re not doing a great job of defensively holding them out,” O’Leary said.
During the match, O’Leary had to put backup goalkeepers Mikey Meagher and Marissa Higgins in the game after starter Cara Canington gave up seven goals in about the first 20 minutes of the game.
“We’re trying to alleviate those big runs, because the momentum swings can really get you,” O’Leary said.
“We just need, really need to be more disciplined, throughout the entire field.”
