Top-seeded Florida defeated the No. 3 seed Temple 19-4 on Saturday afternoon
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The eighth-ranked Florida lacrosse team dominated the Temple Owls 19-4 on Saturday afternoon at Donald R. Dizney Stadium to secure the 2021 AAC Tournament Championship.
The Gators improve to 16-2 on the year and have won 13-straight games, while Temple falls to 12-5 on the year.
Florida secured its seventh-consecutive tournament championship and eighth overall. The Gators were able to hoist both the regular season championship trophy and tournament championship trophy for the eighth time in program history.
Brianna Harris and Shannon Kavanagh each posted six goals on the afternoon to lead the way offensively for the Gators. That mark was a career-best for Harris, surpassing her previous high of five (twice).
Grace Haus added four goals of her own, while Kassidy Bresnahan, Shelton Sawers and Jill Quigley each found the back of the cage once for Florida.
Harris also registered four assists in the game – putting her at 10 points for the day. That was both a career-best mark and is the second-highest total in a game in program history. Maggi Hall dished out a personal-best two assists as well, while Ashley Gonzalez and Kaala Puglisi each posted one helper in the game.
The Gators won 11 draw controls in the game, led by three apiece from Kavanagh and Emily Heller. Paisley Eagan and Harris each added two draws of their own in the game.
Florida’s defense was lights out, limiting Temple to its lowest scoring total this season. The Gators caused 13 turnovers in the game, led by five from Cara Trombetta. Kaitlyn Dabkowski and Emma Wightman each registered three of their own in the game to secure the victory.
Trombetta, Kavanagh and Dabkowski all picked up a team-high four groundballs in the victory.
Sarah Reznick notched three saves in her 53:21 in the cage, Julia Hammerschlag tied her career-high in both saves (2) and goals allowed (0) during her 6:39 between the posts.
The Gators now await the NCAA Tournament Selection Show to determine their postseason destination. The combined women’s and men’s selection show is slated for Sunday at 9 p.m. and will air on ESPNU.
Records
No. 8 Florida (16-2, 10-0 AAC)
Temple (12-5, 7-3 AAC)
How It Happened
* Shannon Kavanagh got the Gators going early with two-straight goals, including an outstanding no-look score at the 24:30 mark.
* Grace Haus found the back of the cage just over a minute later on an assist from Kassidy Bresnahan, forcing a Temple timeout with Florida up 3-0.
* Coming out of the timeout, Haus once again found the open space, scoring on a pass from Brianna Harris to give the Gators the four-goal advantage.
* Harris netted one of her own with just over 21 minutes left in the first half, but then Temple responded with back-to-back goals to pull within three at 5-2.
* The Gators closed out the first half on a 6-0 run to take an 11-2 lead into the locker room. The run was kicked off by Haus’ third goal of the game, which secured her ninth hat trick of the season.
* Kavanagh followed with her third and fourth goals of the day just over two minutes apart from one another to put Florida up 8-2 with 8:51 left in the frame.
* Harris went on a mini-run of her own, scoring three-straight goals to end the half and put the Gators up nine goals. That brought her total to six points in the first half alone.
* Out of the break, the Owls got on the board first, scoring just over 4.5 minutes in to cut Florida’s lead to eight.
* After that, it was three-straight Gator goals, coming from the sticks of Haus, Shelton Sawers and Harris to put Florida up 15-3 with 20:52 left in the game. The goal from Harris was her sixth of the day, a new career-high for the redshirt senior.
* Temple scored their final goal of the game with 18:25 remaining, but the Gators were able to tack four more goals onto their total to clinch the 19-4 victory.
* Kavanagh went back-to-back for her fifth and sixth goals of the game, while Bresnahan and Jill Quigley found the back of the cage at the 8:36 and 4:47 marks, respectively.
Notables
* The Gators won their eighth conference tournament championship, including their seventh-straight
* Florida has now won both the regular season and tournament championships in eight of 12 seasons
* The Gators improve to 12-0 against Temple
* Florida is 120-5 (.960) when facing teams not ranked in the IWLCA Top-25 poll
* The Gators own an impressive 106-19 (.848) in the confines of Donald R. Dizney Stadium
* When scoring 14 goals, the Gators are 149-2 (.987)
* With her four groundballs today, Cara Trombetta inched closer to overtaking first place overall in the record books. She currently sits at 191 and the record in 194 (Haley Hicklen)
* Streaking: Shannon Kavanagh’s streak of 45 consecutive games with a goal is the longest in program history
* Streaking: Kavanagh also has a streak of 45 consecutive games with a point – tied for the second-longest streak in program history
* Streaking: Brianna Harris has recorded a point in 38-straight games, the sixth-longest streak in program history
* Streaking: Harris has also registered an assist in 12-straight games, tied for the second-longest streak in program history with her previous streak that ended earlier this season
* Streaking: Kaitlyn Dabkowski has tallied a groundball in 13 consecutive games, tied for the sixth-longest streak in program history
All-Tournament Team
* Brianna Harris was named as the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player
* The following athletes were named to the All-Tournament Team:
* Kaitlyn Dabkowski
* Brianna Harris
* Grace Haus
* Shannon Kavanagh
* Sarah Reznick
* Cara Trombetta
* Emma Wightman
Career Highs
* Harris scored a career-high 10 points – the second-highest total in a single game in program history
* Harris also tallied a personal-best six goals in the game
* Shelton Sawers tied her career-best with one goal on the afternoon
* Jill Quigley tied her career-high with one goal in the game
* Maggi Hall tied her career-high with two assists
* Ashley Gonzalez tied her career-best with one assist
* Emma Wightman tied her career-high with three caused turnovers
* Emma Panciocco tied her career-high in both caused turnovers (1) and groundballs (1)
* Julia Hammerschlag tied her career-high with two saves and a groundball
* Kaitlyn Dabkowski tied her career-best with four groundballs
O’Leary’s Insight
* “I am just so proud of this team. The effort that they put forth since the beginning, I just couldn’t ask for more. This is a huge team win today, so couldn’t be happier with their accomplishments.”
Up Next
* The Gators await the NCAA Tournament Selection Show to determine their postseason location
* The selection show will air on Sunday at 9 p.m. on ESPNU
* Both the women’s and men’s brackets will be announced throughout the show
Follow the Gators:
#FLax
Instagram<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.instagram.com_gatorslax_-3Fhl-3Den&d=DwIFAg&c=sJ6xIWYx-zLMB3EPkvcnVg&r=o5LKAX7slotfFMyE71jI7L22NYBIi1-KbRGNSXudTPo&m=Y9RqjJILkiSg0WPWCzdrEnjXG2kLX-QlrdSUnv1lW-g&s=e6aI2Kjkn5XCMqbuxM6PNSD_JAO5tudo-hgd6xXDF50&e= >
Facebook<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.facebook.com_GatorsLAX_-3Fnotif-5Ft-3Dpage-5Fadmin-26notif-5Fid-3D1476735622515956&d=DwIFAg&c=sJ6xIWYx-zLMB3EPkvcnVg&r=o5LKAX7slotfFMyE71jI7L22NYBIi1-KbRGNSXudTPo&m=Y9RqjJILkiSg0WPWCzdrEnjXG2kLX-QlrdSUnv1lW-g&s=reVWhVmXA7ag1DqjtWLSLNtwfiF9pj6yx1sgMkmLXAw&e= >
