Neel finds success at Freeman Memorial
Ingrid Neel has only been a student at the University of Florida since Thursday. Nevertheless, the Gators’ women’s tennis team is already seeing the impact she can make.
Top-ranked Florida made its Spring season debut in Las Vegas this weekend at the Freeman Memorial Women’s Tennis Championships hosted by UNLV. Neel saw the most success in the singles draw, taking down Oklahoma State’s Katarina Adamovic 7-5, 6-2, and upsetting No. 9 Jessie Aney of UNC 7-6, 6-2 to make it to the semifinal round before her first collegiate run ended. Neel was defeated Sunday by defending national champion Melissa Lord of Stanford in a hard-fought 6-7, 6-4, 6-3 match. Lord went on to win the singles tournament.
The Gators now have just under two weeks to rest and prepare for their match with DePaul on Jan. 28 to open the ITA Kick-Off Weekend tournament. Despite the time off, the Gators are expected to enter the tournament with momentum.
On Thursday, Florida was selected to win a conference title for a second straight time in the SEC preseason coaches’ poll. Last year, the Gators were undefeated in the SEC and went on to win the program’s 20th SEC tournament title.
This, combined with the unparalleled experience of the team and the early success of Neel, should give the team confidence going into the tournament.
The Gators will open the day at 2 p.m. against DePaul. The winner of that match will face the winner of FIU and USF at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 29.
- Spencer Thompson
One-goal loss to USA shows strengths, weaknesses of UF lacrosse team
The score was tied. After controlling most of the game, the U.S. Women’s National Team found itself fighting to stay in the lead.
Florida was making a late run, taking a 19-18 lead off of two Sammi Burgess goals.
But with 2:20 left, USA’s Marie McCool caught a pass at the top of the box, shook senior defender Caroline Fitzgerald and shot it past sophomore Haley Hicklen for the game-winning goal.
While the final score was close — a good sign for Florida heading into its season opener against the University of North Carolina — the game was one-sided as the Gators struggled to keep up with a dominant performance by USA for most of Sunday afternoon.
But the odds were stacked against UF.
Because the Gators were playing a national team, the game was played with international rules, meaning that penalties lasted the duration of the time instead of ending when the opposing team scored a goal.
The Gators were also playing against some of the best women’s lacrosse players in the country.
And it showed.
From the early minutes, USA put the pressure on Florida, scoring eight goals within the first 14 minutes of the game.
In the first half, the national team had a lead as large as five, while the Gators only took the lead after netting the first goal of the game.
But no matter how far behind Florida was, it was never that far away. The Gators ended the first half with two goals. When trailing 17-12 in the second half, Florida scored five straight goals, tying the game with nearly eight minutes left.
Three Gators finished the game with hat tricks. Attackers Burgess and junior Shayna Pirreca led all scorers with five goals. Sophomore attacker Lindsey Ronbeck added three, and senior midfielder Mollie Stevens tacked on two.
In goal, Hicklen kept Florida in the game, making a career-high 16 saves in her first full-game start.
Even some of Florida’s freshmen contributed. Cara Trombetta got the start on defense, and Brianna Harris recorded a goal in the first half.
This was the second year that coach Amanda O’Leary scheduled her team to face the U.S. National Team in an exhibition, and the experience has proven invaluable.
Last season, after losing to USA 19-8, Florida went 18-1 in the regular season and won the Big East Tournament.
But this season, the Gators only lost 20-19, showing strength in fast scoring and working the ball around, both on offense and on clears.
If Florida wants to start the season off with a win against UNC, however, it needs to work on limiting the mistakes it made this weekend, like the turnovers and sloppy ball control.
It has four weeks to do so.
- Jake Dreilinger
Distance runners find moderate success at Commodore Invitational
Jack Guyton hadn’t run in a track meet since mid-2016, but that didn’t affect him when he was back on the rubber this weekend.
The redshirt freshman, who posted a time of 4:02.37, was good enough on Day 2 of the Commodore Invitational to place second in the mile.
Guyton’s mile time — the fastest by a Gator since 2011 — ranks No. 8 on Florida’s all-time indoor top 10.
In the same event, senior Andres Arroyo topped his personal-best mile time by seven-and-a-half seconds to place 11th, followed by redshirt sophomore Jack Beitter (15th), redshirt junior Carlos Miranda (18th) and sophomore Jack Rogers, who finished 33rd in his collegiate debut.
In the women’s mile, senior Taylor Tubbs placed fourth with a time of 4:47.00, while freshman Hannah Brookover placed sixth in her collegiate debut. Sophomore Caitlin McQuilkin-Bell posted a time of 4:57.79 — fast enough for a ninth place finish, securing her spot as the third Florida runner in the top 10.
Meanwhile, in the men’s 5,000-meters, redshirt sophomore Mac McCoy and sophomore Nick Diaz placed 4th and 13th, respectively. And on the women’s side, freshman Jessica Pascoe and sophomore Maddox Peterson placed 4th and 6th.
As for mid-distance running, freshman Justin Pacifico led the three Gators making their collegiate debuts in the 800-meter with a seventh-pace finish. Pacifico was followed by sophomore Kyren Hollis, who finished 11th, and Sam Ahrenholz in 14th.
The Florida men’s 400-meter relay team finished fifth.
Up next for the team, UF will travel to Blacksburg, Virginia, to compete in the Hokie Invitational on Jan. 20-21.
- Daniel Smithson
Shayna Pirreca (center) dodges defenders during Florida's 14-4 loss to Maryland on March 19, 2016, at Donald R. Dizney Stadium.
