When Florida lacrosse took the field against Jacksonville on Wednesday, it ended up being an afternoon full of milestones
The festivities opened halfway through the second quarter, when junior attacker Gianna Monaco recorded her 100th career point as a Gator. It was her third goal of the match and came on a feed from graduate student attacker Jordan Basso, who spotted Monaco uncovered cutting toward the net.
Just minutes later, Monaco returned the favor. The junior had a solid shooting lane, but instead found Basso with a wide-open net just outside the crease. The graduate student easily scored, not only her second goal of the game, but also the 400th point of her collegiate career.
Monaco and Basso’s excellence propelled No. 4 Florida (11-2, 2-0 Big 12) to its eighth straight victory in a 17-7 thrashing of Jacksonville (7-5, 3-0 ASUN). Monaco led all players with a game-best seven points, tallying five goals and two assists, while Basso added three goals and two assists.
Alongside the two dynamic attackers, four other Gators had multi-point performances. Florida freshman attacker Clarke Hamilton recorded a hat trick with four goals, giving her eight in 13 career appearances.
Meanwhile, junior midfielder Kaitlyn Davies contributed two goals and an assist, and redshirt freshman attacker Frannie Hahn added one goal and two assists. Junior attacker Ava Tighe scored Florida’s final two goals, both in the fourth quarter.
Defensively, the Gators converted 20 of their 21 clearing attempts while collecting 16 ground balls. However, Jacksonville had the advantage in the draw circle, winning 17 controls to Florida’s 10.
In goal, redshirt junior Elyse Finnelle earned the win for UF, making nine saves while allowing just five goals. She was replaced in the fourth quarter by freshman Susan Radebaugh, who made four stops while allowing four goals. On the other side, junior goalkeeper Brookelynn Hodgin made six saves for the Dolphins, but surrendered 17 goals.
Both goalkeepers made crucial saves early in the first period to keep the scoring low, with Finnelle denying three shots and Hodgin turning away four. However, UF struck first when Hahn found Davies for a score. The Gators ultimately led by four after the opening quarter, as Hamilton scored twice.
From there, the UF offense looked unstoppable. Florida poured in seven goals in the second quarter, with Monaco, Hamilton and Basso all completing their hat tricks. Meanwhile, Finnelle made three saves and gave up only two goals during the period.
In the second half, the scoring slowed, but the Gators maintained control. UF outscored JU 3–2 in the third quarter, and both teams scored twice in the final period. The gap never fell below nine throughout the second half.
Florida will head to Boulder, Colorado, to face Colorado on Saturday at 1 p.m. ET.
Contact Max Bernstein at mbernstein@alligator.org. Follow him on X @maxbernstein23.
Max is in his fourth semester at The Alligator, and he is the Spring 2025 lacrosse reporter and a second-year journalism sports & media major. He is a big South Florida sports fan, and likes to go to concerts with his friends and family.
