Wiping away tears from her face during the national anthem, senior Kitty Cullen expected Saturday’s game to be a memorable one.
She reminisced on the first time the Gators played Northwestern on its senior day during her freshman year. She remembers the crushing 19-5 loss.
Cullen wanted to right the wrong by crushing the Wildcats on her Senior Day.
“We weren’t losing on our senior game,” Cullen said. “That wasn’t going to happen.”
The No. 3 Gators (16-1, 4-1 American Lacrosse Conference) made a statement on Saturday afternoon, crushing the No. 4 Wildcats (13-2, 4-1 ALC) 22-4 to earn a share of the ALC title for the third straight season. The defeat was the largest margin Northwestern has ever lost by.
“I keep on telling myself, 'Did we really just win by 18 goals? This must be a dream,’” senior Brittany Dashiell said.
It all started with Florida scoring four straight goals in the first five minutes of the contest. The Gators went on runs of 5-0, 3-0, and 7-0 twice, not allowing the Wildcats to score any goals back to back.
This is coming a week after the Gators allowed 10 goals to ALC bottom-dweller Vanderbilt (2-14, 0-5 ALC).
“I definitely did not expect us to in by this much,” senior defender Sam Farrell said. “We knew we were going to come out on fire and give it all we got, but I didn't think this blowout would be the result.”
Off of 28 shots, the Gators had a shot percentage of .786, which is the highest in any game this season. Northwestern’s four goals on 18 shots (.222) made for its lowest shot percentage of the season.
Out of the 22 goals scored on the day, Florida seniors scored 15 of them.
“We just had so much adrenaline going into today's game,” Dashiell said. “We were excited to go out there and give them what we got.”
Dashiell recorded three goals, three assists and seven draw controls, which ties her career high and became the first Gator to notch 200 career draw controls.
Sophomore Shannon Gilroy led the pack with five goals.
“The stars aligned, and our players came out to play today,” coach Amanda O’Leary said. “We just put it all together.”
Senior Brittany Dashiell (22) runs after the ball during Florida’s 18-13 exhibition win against England on Jan. 24 at Dizney Stadium. Dashiell became the first Gator to record 200 career draw controls on Saturday.
