The No. 12 Florida Gators lacrosse team opened their season with a 12-10 loss to No. 19 Michigan at home, so if the Gators wanted to secure a massive victory over No. 7 Clemson just two weeks later, Florida was going to have to bring their A-game to Milton, Georgia on Saturday.
After maintaining a four-point lead for the entire third quarter, the Gators got a bit too comfortable. By the time the clock hit one minute left in the fourth quarter, Florida had allowed four goals and responded with just one. The Gators were holding on by a thread with a 14-13 lead.
Florida’s goaltender, graduate student Paige Crowther, caused a turnover on Clemson, and with 19 seconds left in the game, head coach Amanda O’Leary called a timeout, and the Gators were able to hold on to possession from there.
Ultimately, Florida won the game 14-13, defeating their toughest opponent of the season thus far.
Florida started the game with four uncontested goals early in the first quarter. That was until Clemson responded with two goals. UF sophomore attacker Clark Hamilton countered their attack with her second goal for the game, but the Tigers kept pushing and scored three straight goals in the last three minutes of the first quarter to tie the game 5-5.
The Gators took the time to regroup and came into the second quarter with a vengeance. Sophomore midfielder Gabby Greene scored two goals right out the gate. The Tigers, however, responded quickly, scoring three consecutive goals for an 8-7 lead. But not long later, Florida bounced back.
In the last two minutes of the quarter, Florida went on a three-goal run. Two of those goals came from junior midfielder Gabbi Koury, while one was scored by redshirt sophomore attacker Frannie Hahn to complete her hat trick in the first half. The Gators were in the lead 10-8 and held on to the advantage from there.
Hamilton led the Gators with four goals and two assists in the match, followed by Hahn, who scored three times and had one assist. For the Tigers, junior midfielder Natalie Shurtleff kept Florida on their toes. She had seven goals in the match, with five of her goals scored on a power play and one was a free-position goal.
The Gators have shown significant improvement in draw controls in the early part of the season, as they outdeuled the Tigers 15-14 in the category. Senior midfielder Kaitlyn Davies had nine draw controls to lead the Gators, while sophomore defender Kira Balis led the Tigers with five.
The Gators also dominated the ground balls. They recovered double the amount the Tigers did. Two out of the eight ground balls recovered by Florida were by Koury, while Clemson recovered only four ground balls.
Florida’s ability to recover ground balls helped them to capitalize on many of the nine turnovers Clemson committed. While Florida committed 11 turnovers, the Tigers were not as efficient at their ground ball recovery to make that second attack.
The Gators will return to their home state to face off against Stetson at 6 p.m. in DeLand on Wednesday as they look to continue their three-game winning streak.
Contact Coral Uzgiden at cuzgiden@alligator.org. Follow her on X @coraluzgiden.
Coral is a sophomore Sports Journalism student in her first semester with the Alligator covering Lacrosse. She also has experience writing for WRUF and covering beats such as high school football and Gators swim and dive. She is an intern for the Women of the Lowcountry and in her free time enjoys playing waterpolo, going to the gym and being outside.
