A team is believed to have an advantage when it plays at home.
It’s players are familiar with the field conditions, and its fans provide them with a boost of confidence, which tends to give the hosts a slight edge over the visitors.
However, the Gators women’s lacrosse team has yet to win a game at Donald R. Dizney Stadium this season. All of their victories have come on the road against then-No. 18 Colorado, Elon and High Point.
No. 20 Florida will hope to continue its success away from home when it travels to Stony Brook, New York, to take on No. 19 Stony Brook on Saturday morning.
Here are two things that UF (3-6) needs to do in order to defeat the Seawolves (4-3) at Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium:
Get others involved
Midfielders Shannon Kavanagh and Sydney Pirreca and attacker Lindsey Ronbeck each posted hat tricks against No. 10 Princeton on Tuesday.
They accounted for nine of Florida’s goals in the 13-11 loss to the Tigers.
The other 18 percent was made up by midfielder Madi Hall and attacker Grace Haus, scoring one goal apiece.
Attackers Hannah Mardiney and Kassidy Bresnahan both failed to record a point against Princeton.
Mardiney was held pointless for the first time since UF’s 15-12 defeat to then-No. 17 Loyola on Feb. 23.
The Gators are tied for 33rd in the nation in assists (5.89), and UF will need to move the ball around more to find production players outside of Kavanagh, Pirreca and Ronbeck.
Man-mark dangerous players
Coach Amanda O’Leary deployed an effective defensive strategy in Florida’s 11-9 loss to No. 3 North Carolina last Saturday.
She assigned defenders Sabrina Cristodero and Cara Trombetta to man-mark attackers Jamie Ortega and Katie Hoeg, respectively.
Cristodero held Ortega, who averages four goals per game, to only one goal on seven shots, and Trombetta limited Hoeg, UNC’s leader in assists, to only one assist.
The Seawolves are led on the offensive front by midfielder Ally Kennedy and attacker Taryn Ohlmiller.
Kennedy leads Stony Brook in goals with 26, and Ohlmiller leads it in assists with 16.
O’Leary must put her trust in Cristodero and Trombetta to tame the Seawolves’ most threatening offensive players and avoid a fourth-consecutive loss for the first time in program history.
Follow Bryan Matamoros on Twitter @bmatamoros_ and contact him at bmatamoros@alligator.org.
Sydney Pirreca (pictured), Shannon Kavanagh and Lindsey Ronbeck accounted for nine of Florida’s goals in its 13-11 loss to Princeton.
