For the first time in Florida's lacrosse season, the 27 smiles that are usually so easy to spot were altogether absent on Saturday at Dizney Stadium.
This year, the sophomore-laden Gators experienced a mercurial rise through the women's lacrosse ranks, but Saturday, their season ended with a 13-9 loss to fifth-seeded Duke (15-4, 4-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Amid the devastation of their dream run coming to an end, Florida's players found solace in the future.
"What we've done this year is amazing, we're a bunch of sophomores and we just made it to the Elite Eight," midfielder Kitty Cullen said. "All of our starters are 19 and 20 years old. I think that we really made a mark this year and teams next year are going to have to watch out for us."
But against a Duke team loaded with seniors, U.S. national team players and Tewaaraton finalist Emma Hamm, the fourth-seeded Gators (16-4, 5-0 American Lacrosse Conference) were outmatched at home for the first time in 2011.
Both Kat Thomas and Sarah Bullard recorded hat tricks for the Blue Devils to go along with Hamm's two-goal and one assist performance.
Duke dominated Florida early in the first half, using an 8-2 draw control advantage to build a three-goal lead by halftime.
"We played a little bit tentative in the first half, played a little bit scared," UF coach Amanda O'Leary said. "But in the second half there was nothing to lose, so you might as well go out and go after it."
Behind two goals each from Janine Hillier, Caroline Chesterman and Cullen, the Gators clawed their way back from the 6-3 deficit and led 9-8 with 17:26 left.
With the momentum swinging back to home side, Duke coach Kerstin Kimel called a timeout to rally and refocus her team in the 94-degree heat.
"We weren't going to pretend the heat wasn't going to be an issue today. I think it was an issue for both teams," Kimel said. "Our intention wasn't to come into the game and stall, but rather we needed to be really on top of our game management in order to manage the heat today."
Over the last 15 minutes of the game, the Blue Devils used a series of methodical possessions, which at times looked more like a stall, to slowly take back the lead.
With a 10-9 lead, Duke milked nine minutes off of the clock before O'Leary was forced to pull goalie Mikey Meagher out of the crease and onto defense to force a turnover. The Blue Devils immediately took advantage of the open nets and buried three more goals to close the game on a 5-0 run.
"It's a challenge to shut down so much offensive firepower," O'Leary said. "But I thought our team did a really good job. Our team doesn't like to lose, so I expect them to carry this over the summer and through the fall, and hopefully, next spring we'll be able to come out and compete against teams like this."
With the win Duke advances to Stony Brook, N.Y., to play in the Final Four against fellow ACC opponent Maryland. The Gators finish the season as the only second-year program to ever make the NCAA Tournament.
