With just over five minutes remaining in Sunday’s regular season finale for Florida, redshirt senior Nicole Graziano picked up a rebound from a Lindsey Ronbeck, and took a shot and scored from point-blank range.
In the context of the game, it was Graziano’s third goal of the game. However, it allowed her clinch a spot in the UF record book, becoming just the sixth player to score 100 career goals in program history.
“People were telling me before the game (that I was three goals away from the milestone),” Graziano said. “I don’t really care about individual stats — let’s just get this win.”
Aided by a trio of hat tricks by Graziano, Ronbeck and Sammi Burgess, the No. 2 Florida lacrosse team (16-1, 7-0 Big East) was able to put away Connecticut 13-8 at home on Senior Day to win its second consecutive Big East regular season title.
After two first half goals from Graziano and Burgess, the Gators were able to head to the halftime locker room with a 6-4 lead.
After a testy first half, Florida dominated the second 30 minutes.
UF didn’t allow the Huskies (12-3, 6-1 Big East) to score for the first 28 minutes, while the Gators scored seven times during the same time period.
Coach Amanda O’Leary made defensive adjustments at halftime and they worked.
“We just decided to stop swinging our sticks and move our feet,” senior defender Sydney DuPre said. “I think that was a big reason why. They have good 1-v-1 dodgers, and we just needed to get low and move with our feet.”
The Gators let up four consecutive goals in a span of less than two minutes to end the game, but that was when O’Leary sent out all of the 10 active seniors to finish the regular season together.
“They’ve given this program four years of their life and hours — I can’t even count the number of hours — and what they’ve brought to this program,” O’Leary said. “I thought it only fitting that they all end on the field together.”
The Gators now shift their attention to the postseason. Florida has almost two weeks until their first match of the four-team Big East Tournament in Washington, D.C., where they will be the No. 1 seed.
O’Leary said that the team will have some time to recover so they can catch their second wind.
“They certainly have deserved this time off, and they’ll use it wisely,” she said. “Then we’ll regroup and get ready for the conference championships. So, a lot of work ahead of us.”
Contact Kyle Brutman at kbrutman@alligator.org and you can 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.
