Florida closes out the regular season with a victory over Old Dominion
Box Score <https://floridagators.com/documents/2023/4/29/ODU-UF.pdf>
NORFOLK, Va. – The No. 8 Florida lacrosse team closed out its regular season on a high note with a 17-5 victory over Old Dominion at the L.R. Hill Sports Complex on Saturday afternoon.
The Gators – winners of nine-straight games – improve to 14-3 overall and 5-1 in the American Athletic Conference, while Old Dominion ends its season with a 4-13 record overall and a 0-6 record in league play.
Florida earns the No. 2 seed in the AAC Tournament next week in Philadelphia and will play the No. 3 seed on Thursday, May 4. That team is still to be determined after the rest of the Saturday conference games shake out. UF will play in the second semifinal game, scheduled for 7 p.m.
The Gators were led on the offensive front by a four-goal performance from Emma LoPinto – her 11th hat trick of the year. Maggi Hall followed closely behind with three goals of her own for her seventh hat trick of the year.
Danielle Pavinelli, Tayler Warehime and Ava Tighe each found the back of the cage twice, while Madison Waters, Emily Heller, Paisley Eagan and Gianna Monaco each added one apiece.
Pavinelli dished out a season-high four assists on the afternoon, while seven Gators each recorded one in the win: LoPinto, Hall, M. Waters, Warehime, Ashley Gonzalez, Emerson Cabrera and Janine Suris.
The Gators dominated the draw circle, winning 19-of-25 draw controls on the afternoon. Liz Harrison posted a team-high 13 draw control victories, followed by three from Shelton Sawers.
Florida held the Monarchs to a .227 shooting percentage (5-of-22), making it the fourth time this season the Gators have limited a team to five goals or less. As a team, Florida totaled nine caused turnovers, led by two apiece from Hall and Catherine Flaherty.
Hall posted a team-high four groundballs, while Heller and Becky Browndorf followed with two of their own.
Sarah Reznick had a stellar day in cage, tallying seven saves and a .636 save percentage while only allowing four goals. Elyse Finnelle came in for the final frame, recording four saves and only allowing one goal for a phenomenal .800 save percentage.
Records
No. 8 Florida (14-3, 5-1 AAC)
Old Dominion (4-13, 0-6 AAC)
How It Happened
* Old Dominion got on the board first with just over two minutes gone in the game, but the Gators strung together a run of four goals over the span of seven minutes to regain the momentum.
* Emma LoPinto evened the score at 1-all on a pass from Danielle Pavinelli, then on the next play, LoPinto found a cutting Tayler Warehime to give the Gators their first lead of the day.
* Warehime put herself in the assist column, finding Maggi Hall for her first of the day to put UF up 3-1.
* The Gators took the three-goal advantage after Ashley Gonzalez found LoPinto for the wraparound goal with 3:51 remaining in the first frame.
* The Monarchs closed out the quarter on a 2-0 run to pull back to within one heading into the second.
* Both teams were held scoreless for the first 6+ minutes of the second frame, but the Gators broke through after Pavinelli found Emily Heller on a woman-down opportunity to put Florida up 5-3.
* With 6:26 left in the half, Hall picked up the loose ball off the save deflection and snuck it past the goalie, once again giving the Gators a three-goal lead on a woman-up opportunity.
* Just over a minute later, the duo of LoPinto and Pavinelli teamed up once again, securing a first hat trick for the sophomore attacker. That was also Pavinelli’s third assist of the half.
* Madison Waters put herself in the scoring column on another woman-up opportunity, finding the back of the cage on a pass from Hall to give the Gators the 8-3 lead heading into the locker room.
* The first goal of the second half belonged to the Monarchs, cutting Florida’s lead to four with 9:24 left in the third, but just under a minute later, Pavinelli found space in front of the cage to score her first of the day.
* Pavinelli kept her momentum going, converting on a free-position attempt less than a minute later to put the Gators up six at 10-4.
* Hall tallied her seventh hat trick of the season after her unassisted score with 6:43 left in the third, then Warehime picked up her second goal of the day on a pass from Emerson Cabrera to put the Gators up eight.
* Florida kept it rolling, with Madison Waters finding a cutting Paisley Eagan for her first goal of the game with 4:44 left in the third frame.
* The Gators secured the running clock at 14-4 after Pavinelli found LoPinto for her fourth goal of the afternoon with 1:10 remaining in the quarter.
* Gianna Monaco gave Florida the insurance goal with 9:47 left in the game, putting the Gators up 15-4. Old Dominion got one back to cut Florida’s lead to 10, but Ava Tighe found the back of the cage twice within the final four minutes of the game to secure the 17-5 victory for Florida.
Notables
* Hat Trick Counter
* Emma LoPinto: 11
* Maggi Hall: 7
* This was the fourth time this season the Gators’ defense has held a team to five goals or fewer
* Paisley Eagan is now just one point away from 100 for her career after her one point against the Monarchs
* Emily Heller inched closer to 100 career points with one-point performance, sitting at 98 for her career
* With her seven saves on the afternoon, Sarah Reznick inched closer to overtaking the program record of 566 as she currently sits at 551
* The Gators improve to 4-0 against the Monarchs in the all-time series, including a 3-0 record in Norfolk, Va.
* Florida finishes the month of April with a perfect 7-0 record
* The Gators move to 11-0 against unranked opponents this season
* UF is now 5-2 in road games during the 2023 campaign
* When scoring at least 14 goals, the Gators are 179-2 (.989) in program history
* Streaking: Sarah Reznick has recorded a save in 68-straight games, a new program record
* Streaking: Danielle Pavinelli has registered a point in 42-straight games (tied for fourth-longest streak) and a goal in 40-straight games (tied for second-longest streak)
* Streaking: Maggi Hall has dished out an assist in 10-straight games, tied for the fourth-longest streak in program history
* Emily Heller’s streak of a draw control in 40-straight games came to an end against the Monarchs, ending at the second-longest streak in program history
Career-Highs
* Madison Waters:
* Tied her career-high in assists (1)
* Catherine Flaherty
* Tied career-high in caused turnovers (2)
* Maggi Hall
* Tied career-high in caused turnovers (2)
* Gianna Monaco
* Career-high in caused turnovers (1)
* Tied career-high in goals (1)
* Ava Tighe
* Tied career-high in goals (2)
Insight from O’Leary
* “We started a little slow today, but showed great energy coming out of halftime. We are excited to take this momentum into the postseason.”
Up Next
* The Gators are set to compete as the No. 2 seed in the American Athletic Conference Tournament next week
* Florida the No. 3 seed that is to be determined Thursday, May 4 for the AAC Semifinal in Philadelphia. UF will play in the second semifinal game, slated to start at 7 p.m.
* All semifinals games, as well as the final game, will be streamed on ESPN+
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