Two days removed from a convincing victory over Ohio State, No. 1 seed Florida (17-2, 5-2 American Lacrosse Conference) dropped the ball against second-seeded Northwestern (12-2, 4-1 ALC) in the championship round of the ALC Tournament in Baltimore, Md.
The Gators failed to gain possession consistently, hindering their chances of earning a second consecutive ALC Championship and losing 8-3 to the Wildcats at Homewood Field.
“I have to give credit to Northwestern for coming in with a great game plan, and they were the better team today,” coach Amanda O’Leary said in a press release.
“We knew possession was going to be a big part of this game and they just dominated on the draws. So we go back to the drawing board to see where we need to improve, and there is a whole postseason yet to be played.”
Florida lost the draw-control battle and couldn’t hold off an attacking Northwestern unit that struck early.
Just three minutes into the first half, NU’s Kelly Rich scored her 16th goal of the season following a missed shot by teammate Amanda Macaluso. NU continued to take shots on goal early until UF’s Gabi Wiegand scored on a free-position shot at the 23:34 mark for her 36th goal of 2013.
After a relatively quiet game versus Ohio State, Caroline Chesterman followed suit with a goal of her own to extend Florida’s lead to 2-1 with an assist by Shannon Gilroy. Chesterman registered two goals against in Florida’s 22-4 win against Northwestern on April 20.
But the Wildcats fought their way back.
NU attacker Kat DeRonda scored her eighth goal of the year with an assist from Kelly Rich to tie the game at 2-2. The Wildcats maintained possession for much of the first half and as a result outshot the Gators seven to two in the first 11 minutes of the matchup.
That trend continued with a goal from NU’s Alyssa Leonard to give the Wildcats a 3-2 advantage heading into halftime.
Following two consecutive saves by goalie Bridget Bianco at the start of the second half NU’s DeRonda scored her second goal of the game on a free position shot at 28:37 – the second time NU opened up a half with a goal within two minutes of play.
Florida’s next attempted free position shot came at the hands of Kitty Cullen which in turn was saved by NU’s Bianco. On the ensuing ground ball pickup, Cullen's shot was blocked.
Two saves by Mikey Meagher kept NU at bay, but an early turnover by Chesterman led to an NU goal by defender Kate Macdonald to put the game at 5-2. Just under five minutes later, UF’s Ashley Bruns cut the deficit to two, scoring her 46th goal of the season with under 19 minutes to play.
Following a timeout at the 16:26 mark NU dealt a heavy blow. After a shot on goal that went wide by Kaleigh Craig, DeRonda completed a hat trick with her third goal to extend the lead to three.
After winning the ensuing draw control, NU’s Alyssa Leonard scored on her first shot attempt of the day, extending the lead to 7-3.
A final goal by Northwestern’s Rich put the game out of reach with 11:32 left to play, securing its second ALC Championship in the program’s history.
The Gators continue play on May 10 in the NCAA Tournament.
Florida’s Ashley Bruns (13) attacks the net against Ohio State defender Tayler Kuzma (24) in the Gators’ 13-7 win against the Buckeyes on March 23 at Dizney Stadium. Northwestern held Bruns to one goal in Florida's 8-3 loss on Sunday.
