The Gators are not opening their season against a team from their league, the American Lacrosse Conference. In fact, the team they are playing isn’t American.
On Thursday, the Florida lacrosse program begins its third season with an exhibition against the England Women’s National Team at home at Dizney Stadium.
England contacted UF about playing the exhibition. In addition to playing Florida, it will be playing Jacksonville, Syracuse and the U.S. Women’s National Team as part of a pre-World Cup tour.
“We were eager to get out there and play someone of that caliber early on in the season,” said head coach Amanda O’Leary. “It will be a great start for us to play them.”
In their first ever game in 2010, the Gators played the U.S. Women's National Team and lost, 17-8, but this is their first game against a team from outside of the country.
“England is a great team,” said Gators junior attacker Ashley Bruns. “We’re going to be able to learn a lot of new things and play the best of the best.”
Bruns said the exhibition would provide a good opportunity for Florida to learn about its strengths and weaknesses before the regular season begins on Feb. 11 against North Carolina.
While the Gators’ players do not have international experience, their assistant coaches, Erica LaGrow and Caitlyn McFadden, both play for the U.S. National team and have faced England in international play before.
“England is a team that is very fast and very fit, so that is going to be a challenge,” McFadden said. “But thankfully, our team is very fast, very fit, too, so it should be a good matchup.”
England midfielder Laura Merrifield was a teammate of McFadden’s during their time at Maryland. McFadden said Merrifield perfectly embodies England’s strengths.
“She is tall and fast, so she is really hard to guard because she uses both of those to her advantage really well,” McFadden said. “With most of their players, their biggest strength is their speed, so they all really use that to their advantage.”
