The Gators looked efficient on paper, but on the field, Ohio State had its way with them.
The Buckeyes (6-3, 1-1 American Lacrosse Conference) handed UF (6-4, 0-2 ALC) its second conference loss Saturday in Columbus, Ohio, taking a 14-9 win.
Freshman attacker Ashley Bruns led Florida with two scores and two assists while midfielders Caroline Chesterman and Kitty Cullen each added one score and an assist.
UF entered the game on a three-game winning streak, but it had trouble converting on opportunities against the Buckeyes.
Florida took 29 shots to OSU’s 30, had 17 turnovers to 20 from its opponent, picked up 26 ground balls to 19 and controlled 14 of the 25 draws.
However, the deciding stats in the game came from the Buckeyes, who converted on more of their shots, had 11 assists to just 4 from the Gators, saved more of UF’s opportunities and had no yellow cards to five from Amanda O’Leary’s squad.
UF got off to a solid start, taking an early 1-0 lead on a Bruns goal, but the Buckeyes responded with two scores and went up 2-1. UF then reeled of three straight to grab its largest lead of the day, 4-2.
OSU scored two more, and UF added one until the Buckeyes closed the half with three unanswered goals to take a 7-5 lead at the break.
The run continued when Florida allowed its opponent to score three more goals to open the second half. The Gators then traded scores with OSU but were unable to take back the lead.
“If you look at the stats, we’re fairly even,” O’Leary said. “It was just the fact that they capitalized on their shots, and we didn’t. It’s very simple, they put the ball in the back of the net and we didn’t.”
