Teammates refer to redshirt senior Nicole Graziano as a grandma.
"She’s a leader, top to bottom," Florida coach Amanda O’Leary said. "From being on the field, just psyching people up, getting them excited. When they make mistakes, just kinda patting them on the back saying, ‘We’ve got this.We’re gonna get it back."
The maturation of Graziano, this year’s captain, has put her in a position to be an effective team leader, an opportunity she has taken advantage of this season.
From the time the new class of players arrived in the fall, Graziano did what she could to reach out to them and help create team chemistry.
As a result, the freshman class has played well this season led by midfielders Sydney Pirreca and Lindsey Ronbeck, both of whom have started all 11 games and scored double-digit goals.
"She has just been an integral part of the success of this program over the course of the four years, and I think she wanted to make this fifth year a special one, and I think she’s done that," O’Leary said of Graziano.
The redshirt senior is the only player on the roster to have appeared in Florida’s National Semifinals game in 2012, and has broken out during the past three weeks to become the Gators’ leading scorer with 24 goals this season.
In the last five games, beginning with a four-goal effort in a 7-6 away win over Stony Brook on March 6, she has scored 16 goals.
Now, just one game into Big East play, she is just three goals away from setting her career-high in goals scored in a season.
Graziano has also been one of the team’s most efficient players, scoring five free-position goals — tied for the team-high — on just eight attempts this season. She is also second among non-defensive players with at least five starts in shots-on-goal percentage (82.9 percent), as she has just seven shots that have failed to go on-target this year.
"Now, (Graziano) is mature enough to realize that everybody make mistakes, so we’re going to let those roll off of us, and we’re going to go and make the next play," O’Leary said.
But Graziano isn’t the only Florida lacrosse player to see her play improve lately.
In the limited time freshman goalkeeper Haley Hicklen has played in the cage, she has a made a veteran-esque impact. Saturday against Vanderbilt, she played the entire second half and set a new career-high in saves with six.
"She’s got quick hands," the coach said of Hicklen. "She’s big and tall so a lot of her is just standing still and sighting the ball."
But what makes her really special is her confidence.
"She steps out on that field — I mean, she owns it," O’Leary said. "And that confidence just pays off day-in and day-out in practice and in games. She feels like she can make every save and she just about does that."
To complement Hicklen’s confidence, senior Mary-Sean Wilcox brings her experience in big-game situations to the table.
In UF’s 16-15 win against then-No. 2 North Carolina, Wilcox was replaced after halftime when the score was 8-8. Florida led UNC 14-11 with 12:43 left in the game, but Hicklen let two quick goals get by her, and the Tar Heels were within one goal with 11:13 remaining. Wilcox was able to halt UNC’s momentum for the duration of the game, allowing just two goals in the game’s final 10 minutes.
"She can handle a lot of different pressures on the field," O’Leary said.
"Haley just has that sense of confidence. So, I think you look at those two, and it’s a coin flip every day as to who’s playing better."
Contact Kyle Brutman at kbrutman@alligator.org and follow him on Twitter @KBrut13.
UF's Nicole Graziano (right) makes a play on the ball during Florida's 16-6 win over Dartmouth on Feb. 27, 2016.
