Florida’s journey to its eighth-straight conference tournament championship begins Thursday
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GREENVILLE, N.C. – Just five days after these two squads faced to close out the regular season, the No. 8 Florida lacrosse team will take on the East Carolina Pirates on Thursday in the first semifinal game of the American Athletic Conference Tournament.
Opening draw is slated for 4:30 p.m. on ESPN+ at Johnson Stadium.
Zach Berly will serve as the play-by-play announcer for all three games, while Kit McConnico will handle the color duties for the weekend and Morgan Uber will be the sideline reporter.
The second semifinal will be between Vanderbilt and Temple 45 minutes after the conclusion of Florida’s game. If the Gators were to advance, they face the winner of semifinal No. 2 at 12 p.m. on Saturday.
No. 8 Florida at East Carolina Live Stream<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.espn.com_espnplus_player_-5F_id_c4ed198d-2D421b-2D493c-2D98da-2D0e2a059a3e89-23bucketId-3D1&d=DwIFAg&c=sJ6xIWYx-zLMB3EPkvcnVg&r=o5LKAX7slotfFMyE71jI7L22NYBIi1-KbRGNSXudTPo&m=G-eXH3TFCsEQF8mecGOb6z4wO5qlhjsDPrbn-j2e6equfzdDEdXR0XWI0XmCNEg8&s=7_3j1iTUi3k5_JbxRJVffgz6ZM82im1v4fIvQFFes9Q&e= > | No. 8 Florida at East Carolina Radio Stream<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__floridagators.com_watch_&d=DwIFAg&c=sJ6xIWYx-zLMB3EPkvcnVg&r=o5LKAX7slotfFMyE71jI7L22NYBIi1-KbRGNSXudTPo&m=G-eXH3TFCsEQF8mecGOb6z4wO5qlhjsDPrbn-j2e6equfzdDEdXR0XWI0XmCNEg8&s=ty2gdmMiPGtXeozfEnb7v694xlNScfWpk3-izMcLZDk&e= >
The Gators and the Pirates are meeting for the fifth time in program history, with Florida holding the 4-0 series advantage. The last time these two teams faced off, UF topped East Carolina 16-4 on April 30, 2022 in Greenville, N.C.
With their victory last Saturday, Florida clinched the AAC regular season title outright – its third in three seasons in the conference and 11th-straight overall. The Gators also secured their ninth undefeated conference season.
What’s at stake? Florida is looking for the automatic qualifier bid for the American Athletic Conference and looks to claim its ninth conference tournament championship. The Gators have won eight-straight, including the last two in the AAC.
On Wednesday, Florida won five of the six major postseason awards: Danielle Pavinelli – Attacker of the Year, Emma Wightman – Defender of the Year, Sarah Reznick – Goalkeeper of the Year, Emma LoPinto – Freshman of the Year and Florida’s staff as the Coaching Staff of the Year.
Pavinelli, Wightman, Reznick and LoPinto were joined by Catherine Flaherty and Emily Heller on the All-AAC First Team, while Maggi Hall, Josie Hahn and Ashley Gonzalez each found themselves on the All-AAC Second Team.
No. 8 Florida at East Carolina Broadcast Information
Time & Date: Thursday, May 5 | 4:30 p.m.
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Series Information – No. 8 Florida at East Carolina
Pirates | 2022 season: 9-8, 2-3 AAC
* This is the fifth meeting between the Gators and the Pirates
* Florida leads 4-0
* Home: 3-0 | Away: 1-0 | Neutral: 0-0
* Last Time Out: April 30, 2022 | Greenville, N.C. | W, 16-4
Scouting the Pirates
* East Carolina comes into Thursday’s game as the No. 4 seed with a 9-8 record overall and the Pirates are 2-3 in the league, with wins over Old Dominion and Cincinnati
* Florida holds the 4-0 series advantage over the Pirates, including a victory just five days ago from the start of Thursday’s semifinal
* Through 17 games this season, Megan Tryniski (33g, 21a), Frances Kimel (24g, 30a), Leah Bestany (37g, 4a) and Nicole Legar (25g, 5a) are leading the way offensively
* Flynn Reed and Nicole Legar are leading the way in the draw circle, with 84 and 61 draws, respectively
* On the defensive end, Alexandra Giacolone has a team-high 23 caused turnovers, followed by 18 from Caroline Meininger and 11 from Ellie Bromley
* Brynn Knight has seen a majority of minutes in the games for the Pirates, coming up with 121 saves on a .437 saves percentage during her 756:42 in the cage. Sophie Bandorick has also seen action between the pipes, recording 47 saves with a .505 save percentage in her 254:42 played
#FLax vs. The Field
* Florida holds the 3-0 record against the teams that made the tournament this season, outscoring them 50-19 in those three games
* Emma LoPinto is leading all scorers in the three matchups with 15 points, followed by 13 points from Danielle Pavinelli and 11 from Ashley Gonzalez
* Sarah Reznick has only allowed 5.64 goals against those three opponents, posting 23 saves with a .622 save percentage
* Liz Harrison (16) and Emily Heller (14) have combined for 30 draw controls
* In the two conference tournaments thus far, Florida has outscored its opponents 72-29 in the four games of the AAC Tournament
Quick Facts
* With one point, Emma LoPinto will break the record for most points scored by a freshman in their rookie season. She is tied with the current record holder Ashley Bruns, who’s 79 points have withstood the test of time since the opening season in 2010
* The Gators lead the conference in goals per game (15.47), assists per game (7.76), points per game (23.24), shot percentage (.493), turnovers per game (11.76), goals against average (9.06), save percentage (.487), shots on goal per game (24.71)
* Individually, the following players rank first among the conference in the following categories:
* Emma LoPinto
* Points – 79
* Danielle Pavinelli
* Game-winning goals – 4
* Sarah Reznick
* Goals against average – 9.12
* Save percentage – .490
* If Florida pulls out the win on Thursday, it would be Amanda O’Leary 200th victory at Florida
* UF is looking to clinch its eighth-straight conference tournament championship this week and ninth overall
* Florida is 11-0 this season when facing teams not ranked in the Top-25
* The Gators have not dropped a conference game since April 18, 2015 and have not lost a regular season conference game since that same day
* That’s 57 games overall and 45 regular season games that Florida has won in conference
* When scoring at least 14 goals, the Gators are 162-2 (.988) in program history
* Streaking: Sarah Reznick has recorded a save in 46-straight games, the second-longest streak in program history
* Streaking: Danielle Pavinelli has registered a point in 20-straight games
* Streaking: Emma LoPinto has tallied a point in 14-straight games
* Streaking: Emily Heller has recorded a draw control in 17-straight games
* Streaking: Liz Harrison has recorded a draw control in 14-straight games
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