Kitty Cullen was not going to be a non-factor for long.
A game after being ejected in the first half with just one point, the junior attacker scored four goals and assisted on two more to lead No. 4 Florida (2-1) to an 18-6 win over Maryland-Baltimore County (0-1) on Sunday.
“Not only was she a threat offensively with the ball, but also she was able to be smart and take good quality shots,” coach Amanda O’Leary said.
In UF’s 14-5 win against Jacksonville on Wednesday, Cullen received her second yellow card with 35 seconds remaining in the first half and had to leave the game.
“I was definitely frustrated after Jacksonville,” Cullen, a native of Rockville, Md., who had several family and friends in attendance, said. “No one likes getting two yellow cards.”
Following a slow start in which the Retrievers took a 1-0 lead, the Gators got three straight goals from midfielder Brittany Dashiell and attackers Ashley Bruns and Gabi Wiegand.
Then, at the 14:31 mark, Cullen began to put the game out of reach when she extended UF’s lead to 4-1 by fighting through traffic and putting a shot past goalkeeper Kendall Mason.
Both O’Leary and Cullen said the Gators were able to capitalize on numerous Retrievers double teams and find the open player.
Cullen also had a hand in UF’s sixth and seventh goals when she assisted on a Dashiell goal and the first of freshman Nicole Graziano’s five goals.
Seven minutes into the second half, Cullen scored UF’s first ever man-down goal. She had the ball outside of the 12-meter fan, split defenders, temporarily lost control of the ball, scooped it up just outside the crease and put a shot past Mason just inside left post with two defenders collapsing on her.
“I was a little flustered,” Cullen said of the goal. “I just kind of went for it and it ended up going in, which was pretty lucky.”
After the Gators went up 6-1, the Retrievers were not able to cut the deficit to less than five and did not score consecutive goals.
Graziano’s five goals were a career-high, and freshman Shannon Gilroy recorded her first goal with 4:42 remaining in the game. Gilroy also got her first assist on the last goal of the game, Graziano’s fifth, in the last minute.
“The more we can get them into games and feeling comfortable out there, that is what we are looking to do,” O’Leary said of the freshmen. “They’re the future of this team.”
