Up 9-3 at halftime, the Gators looked to be rolling, but then they hit a lull.
From the beginning of the second half, the Gators could barely hold on to the ball without Oregon taking it away, let alone the Gators could not find the back of the net,
“Oregon’s first attacking possession took 9 minutes off the clock,” Florida coach Amanda O’Leary said. “We had some good looks after that, the ball just didn’t drop.”
Oregon scored once in the first 20 minutes of the second half and looked to score more, but Florida goalkeeper Mikey Meagher stopped that from happening.
She had four saves on five shots in that span.
“With those big saves, she changes the momentum,” O’Leary said. “That's one of things we asks her to do. She came out with the big saves.”
The second-ranked Gators (11-0) took down the Ducks (4-2) by a score of 13-5 in their first excursion to the West Coast in their program’s history.
On the offensive end, senior attacker Gabi Wiegand led Florida in the game, scoring four goals. This was Wiegand’s highest total since scoring five goals against Jacksonville on Feb. 13.
“She has the potential to score that amount of goals in every game,” O’Leary said. “She’s just very talented.”
Two of her goals were on free-position shots. The Gators have averaged 47.5 percent on the season from the eight-meter hash mark. Florida was three for three on the day.
Senior midfielder Brittany Dashiell made the other free-position shot. She missed the last game because she was recovering from a concussion she got against Dartmouth on March 9.
“It was really nice to get back out there, and I felt refreshed,” Dashiell said. “I wasn’t out very long, so it was really easy to get back into it.”
Dashiell did not miss a beat, recording three goals, an assist and three draw controls.
“To have her back out there today made us better in all aspects,” O’Leary said. “Anytime we have Brittany on the field, we are obviously a better team.
Senior attacker Gabi Wiegand prepares to take a shot during Florida’s 16-9 win against Stony Brook on Feb. 20 at Dizney Stadium. Wiegand scored four goals against Oregon on Saturday.
