Florida lost last year’s leader in caused turnovers after the graduation of Shannon Gilroy.
But that hasn’t taken away from the chemistry that has developed on the No. 8 Gators’ backline.
Florida returns its three starting defenders — juniors Caroline Fitzgerald and Taylor Bresnahan and senior Sydney DuPre — as well as senior goalie Mary-Sean Wilcox, a defensive unit that conceded just eight goals per game last season, tied for 12th in the NCAA.
"All around, it’s just a lot easier to know what each other is doing," Bresnahan said. "This year, we’ve been focusing more on communicating with each other, so with that it’s a lot easier to play off of each other."
The final line of defense is reinforced by a starting midfield that doesn’t hesitate to make impactful defensive plays.
Junior Mollie Stevens and redshirt senior Nicole Graziano both reached double digits in caused turnovers last year with 12 and 18, respectively.
Just one game into her UF career, freshman Lindsey Ronbeck has shown she can drop back with the rest of her midfield unit. She was one of four Gators with two caused turnovers in Florida’s 15-6 win over then-No. 13 Loyola last weekend.
"It helps our goalies and it helps (the defenders) because we can depend on her to do anything (on defense)," Bresnahan said of Ronbeck.
The Florida defense will be tested against a Michigan team that has not given the Gators much trouble in past matchups.
In just their third season of lacrosse play, the Wolverines have played Florida in each of their first two years as a varsity team. The Gators have won both matchups 20-4 and 21-0, respectively.
However, Michigan heads to Gainesville coming off a 14-1 win over Central Michigan to open up its season, so the away side has reason to feel confident from the first draw.
To prepare for the 1 p.m. match on Saturday at Donald R. Dizney Stadium in Gainesville, coach Amanda O’Leary has had her team work on both three-on-three and one-on-one situations during practice this week.
Despite the overwhelming series history and the fact that they handily beat a ranked Loyola team to open the season, the Gators cannot let themselves get complacent against the Wolverines, a team that Florida played during the fall.
"We should never go into it looking (at it) as an easy game," Stevens said. "Because it won’t be."
Contact Kyle Brutman at kbrutman@alligator.org and follow him on Twitter @KBrut13.
UF defender Taylor Bresnahan.
