With nearly two weeks until the start of its season, Florida’s lacrosse team was named the favorite to win the American Athletic Conference, earning five of the six first-place votes in the 2020 Preseason Coaches’ Poll.
UF led the poll with 25 points, followed by Cincinnati (19, including the other first-place vote), Vanderbilt (18), Temple (14), UConn (9) and East Carolina (5).
In addition to being the near-unanimous pick to win the conference, the Gators lead the conference with five preseason All-AAC selections, three of which were unanimous.
Junior defender Kaitlyn Dabkowski, junior attacker Grace Haus, junior midfielder Shannon Kavanagh, redshirt junior midfielder Brianna Harris and senior defender Cara Trombetta received the preseason All-AAC honors. Haus, Kavanagh and Trombetta were unanimous selections.
Including their All-AAC distinctions, Trombetta earned a spot on Inside Lacrosse’s Preseason Media All-American First Team. Kavanagh earned Second Team honors.
Three players earned AAC Preseason Player of the Year awards: Haus was named Preseason Attacker of the Year, Trombetta made Preseason Defender of the Year for the second year in a row and Kavanagh is the Preseason Midfielder of the Year. Both Kavanagh and Trombetta were unanimous selections.
These accolades follow a season in which the team went undefeated in conference play and was subsequently coronated as the league’s inaugural regular season and tournament champions.
Florida opens its season at home against Colorado on Feb. 8. Its conference schedule begins March 28 against ECU
