The Gators only needed three goals to reach the Final Four. They scored 15.
No. 1 seed Florida (19-2) made history by coming out of the NCAA women’s quarterfinals with a 15-2 blowout win against Penn State (12-7) to earn their first-ever Final Four appearance.
In just a matter of three seasons, the Gators have accomplished a lot by taking past mistakes and learning from them.
“This was a monumental win for us,” coach Amanda O’Leary said. “We have been preparing for this since we lost to Duke in the same round last year. These young ladies have put in so much hard work. They have the heart, they have the passion and I thought it really showed today.”
In addition to earning its first Final Four appearance in the NCAA Tournament, the Gators became the youngest team to earn two tournament wins and advance to the national semifinals as well as becoming the second program in the 30-year history of women’s lacrosse to advance to the Final Four in only its third season.
“I think the little things are the most important things in the game,” junior midfielder Brittany Dashiell said. “Like ground balls, draw controls, I think those are key in every game because whoever has possession is the team that’s going to score the goals.”
These key factors certainly gave the Gators the advantage Saturday.
Dashiell led the team with three goals and two assists. Freshman Nora Barry also contributed with three goals of her own, while freshman Shannon Gilroy and juniors Ashley Bruns and Kitty Cullen each put up two goals and an assist.
Freshman attacker Taylor McCord made her mark as well by scoring the final goal of the game in her first career postseason appearance.
When it comes to draw controls though, it is something that Gilroy has taken upon herself to consistently dominate.
She led the team with six draw controls and propelled Florida to a 15-4 team advantage on draws.
“When the ball is up in the air, we’re pretty confident (Shannon)’s going to come up with it,” O’Leary said.
“When it’s on the wings we have Kayla (Stolins) and Brittany (Dashiell).
“We have a solid group of attackers on the back line and a solid group of defenders who can also compete for those ground balls. Again, draw controls are just so critical because whoever possesses the ball has the opportunity to score.”
Florida will now face No. 4 seed Syracuse (18-3) on Friday in Stony Brook, N.Y., in the Final Four.
The Gators played the Orange at home earlier this season and lost 12-11 in double overtime. UF scored three goals in the final three minutes of regulation to tie the contest 10-10 and send the game into overtime.
After exchanging goals in the first overtime, Florida could not bounce back from a Syracuse score at the 5:05 mark in the second overtime.
“I think we’re going to have a lot of fans come out there and support us, which is going to help us a lot,” Cullen said.
“But I mean, no matter what field we’re on I think we’re just going to play great … I think we have a lot more potential and a lot more to come and hopefully we’ll be able to bring that out this weekend.”
Shannon Gilroy fights for possession against Penn State in Florida’s Elite Eight win Saturday. Gilroy scored two goals and led the Gators with six draw controls in the 15-2 victory.
