If No. 8 Florida (2-1) has depth anywhere, it is in the cage.
Redshirt senior Cara Canington and sophomore Mary-Sean Wilcox have been Florida’s strongest assets in the Gators’ first three games of the season.
Coach Amanda O’Leary said both Canington and Wilcox offer solid ability in the goal, which has been useful for the 11 true freshmen that are still acclimating to college play.
Canington recorded a season high of 13 saves in Florida’s season-opener at No. 1 North Carolina (2-0) on Feb. 8. In her first game of the 2014 season, she nearly bypassed her current record of 14 saves in a single match.
Wilcox recorded a season-high five saves against High Point (1-1) on Saturday.
The sophomore allowed five goals, but she held off High Point as it started to get some momentum in the last 10 minutes of the match.
The 5-foot-3 goalkeeper also allowed the Panthers to convert only 1 of 2 shots on free-position opportunities.
O’Leary said the goals against Wilcox were not her fault, but were due to an issue in the offense breaking down.
“It was the draw controls,” O’Leary said. “You can see how critical they are.
“We lost a couple of draw controls right in a row and they ended up being goals against us.”
The Florida coach said the offense’s shakiness on the draws had a lot to do with the shifting roster in the final 15 minutes of the game. The Gators have been trying to give playing time to as many freshmen as possible.
“I think Mary-Sean did a phenomenal job coming in,” O’Leary said. “We were switching the defense all around, but she came up with some huge saves and got the ball out cleanly.”
Canington played her strongest first half of the season against High Point on Saturday.
The Bel Air, Md., native allowed only two goals — a season best — in the 30 minutes she played. The two goals High Point scored on Canington were from free-position shots. Overall, the Panthers had four free-position shots in the first half, but Canington allowed them to convert on two of the four shots.
The senior’s goalkeeping skills held High Point off and gave Florida the opportunity to climb ahead 14-2 by the end of the first half.
The 12-point lead in the first half gave the Gators a running clock at the start of the second half, allowing Florida to try and close the game early.
When Wilcox came in after halftime, she was tasked with the job of holding High Point back as UF rotated freshmen in and out of the game.
Freshman attacker Sammi Burgess said the defense for the Gators was one of the best and has been key in helping the newest members of the team get their feet wet on the field.
No matter how well offense or defense is doing, O’Leary is sure her keepers are her strongest assets.
“I feel most comfortable with our goalkeepers,” O’Leary said. “They’re just doing a really good job for us.”
Follow Eden Otero on Twitter @edenotero_l
