It was more of the same on the lacrosse field this weekend for Florida, as yet another dominant performance gave the Gators their fourth straight victory.
No. 5 Florida (4-1) defeated Dartmouth (0-2) by a score of 18-10 on a cool, rainy Saturday afternoon at Donald R. Dizney Stadium.
The Gators had eight goal scorers and six players who recorded assists.
At halftime, the score was 13-3 in favor of Florida. In the second half, Dartmouth outscored the Gators 7-5, something senior Shannon Gilroy said the team wasn’t too concerned with because Florida wasn’t settling for just any shot.
“I think (Dartmouth) did a really good job, especially off the draw and they were able to have really good possessions on their offensive end,” Gilroy said, “so I think when we got the ball on our offensive end, we just made sure we took a 100 percent shot.”
Gilroy had her highest scoring output of the season on Saturday, scoring six goals on six shots. Those six bring her to 202 in her career as a Gator, just the second Florida player to eclipse 200. Gilroy also is now just two goals shy of becoming Florida’s all-time leading goal scorer, but she isn’t thinking too much into that.
Senior Nora Barry added a hat trick on Saturday to bring her up to nine goals on the year. Lauren Lea, Mollie Stevens and Devon Schneider each added two apiece.
Dartmouth played a very possession-heavy offensive scheme throughout the match, holding the ball for long periods of time waiting for a shot. Florida played the opposite style, as they have all year, scoring on fast breaks and quick, strong offensive possessions. Head coach Amanda O’Leary said after the win that she was happy with the performance, despite a weaker second half than she would have liked to see.
“I thought that offensively, our team was really clicking…we had a great first half,” O’Leary said. “I thought the draw controls were the key (in the second half). We lost a bunch of draw controls. … Dartmouth seemed to want it more.”
Florida will need to prepare for a quick turnaround on Tuesday as it hosts Loyola, and O’Leary was already thinking about where the Gators can improve after Saturday’s win.
“We’re going to need to get back to the drawing board of fundamentals, defensively,” O’Leary said.
Follow Alex Maminakis on Twitter @alexmaminakis
Shannon Gilroy runs toward the net during Florida's win against San Diego State at Donald R. Dizney Stadium.
