With a spot in the 2025 NCAA Women’s Lacrosse Championship Tournament on the line, No. 1-seeded Florida had arguably its slowest start of the season. Facing No. 3-seeded Arizona State in the inaugural Big 12 Conference Lacrosse Tournament Championship game, UF uncharacteristically allowed four of the first five goals in the bout.
With the score 5-2 after nine minutes, Florida head coach Amanda O’Leary made a big decision that would determine the remainder of the game: graduate student goalkeeper Georgia Hoey replaced redshirt junior goalkeeper Elyse Finnelle.
Hoey immediately steadied the ship for the Gators. She shut out the Sun Devils in the remainder of the opening quarter, and the Gators found their rhythm from there. Florida took the lead early in the second quarter and never surrendered it. The Gators offense put up 13 goals in the second and third quarters, while Hoey made eight saves.
Florida (17-2) dispatched Arizona State (11-8) 21-10, becoming the first Big 12 Conference Tournament champion. The win also gave the Gators their 12th consecutive conference tournament championship across four different conferences.
In front of Hoey, Florida’s offense played with plenty of urgency and ultimately scored 20 goals for the fourth time in its past five matches. Junior attacker Gianna Monaco led the way with five goals and two assists, while freshman attacker Clarke Hamilton added five goals of her own. Behind them, graduate student attacker Jordan Basso had three goals and two assists, and redshirt freshman attacker Frannie Hahn recorded two goals and assists.
The Gator defense also caused chaos for the rivaling offense, forcing eight of its 11 turnovers. UF’s defense completed all 15 of its clearing attempts and racked up 15 groundballs.
Finnelle opened the match in the net for UF, but after allowing five goals on six shots, she gave way to Hoey, who patrolled the goal for nearly the remainder of the match, allowing only three goals. For Arizona State, senior goalkeeper Katie Vahle allowed 16 goals and made eight saves. She was replaced in the third quarter by freshman Regan Spichiger, who stopped two of the seven shots she faced.
The Sun Devils were the aggressors in the first quarter, prompting UF’s goalkeeping change just nine minutes into the game. However, Florida’s offense began to kick into gear as Hamilton scored twice, and junior midfielder Kaitlyn Davies struck with a minute and a half remaining in the quarter to tie the match 5-5.
Two Gator graduate students combined to give UF the lead early in the second quarter when Basso found midfielder Jenny Markey, who put the Gators up by a goal. From there, the Gators kept on rolling, outscoring the Sun Devils 7-2 in the second quarter. Hamilton finished her hat trick, and the Gators converted four straight free position chances for goals to head into the half up five.
In the second half, the Gators kept the pressure on the Sun Devils and shut them down. Monaco scored three of Florida’s six goals in the third quarter. Hoey made four saves to keep Arizona State scoreless in the 15-minute frame. Up 11 heading into the fourth quarter, the Gators coasted to the victory as both teams added three goals in the final frame.
Florida now awaits the 2025 NCAA Women’s Lacrosse Championship selection show Sunday at 9 p.m. ET as the Gators chase their first ever lacrosse national championship.
Contact Max Bernstein at mbernstein@alligator.org. Follow him on X @maxbernstein23.
Max is in his fourth semester at The Alligator, and he is the Spring 2025 lacrosse reporter and a second-year journalism sports & media major. He is a big South Florida sports fan, and likes to go to concerts with his friends and family.
