It was evident early Saturday that Florida lacrosse was in for a battle. Its opponent, Dartmouth, kept pushing the Gators all afternoon, even shutting out UF for the final eight minutes of the third quarter.
But one Gator stepped up: sophomore goalkeeper Susan Radebaugh. Stepping in for the final 40 minutes of the bout, Radebaugh saved 11 shots and allowed only four goals.
And she showed out when UF needed her most. Up 11-10 going into the final 15-minute frame, Radebaugh and UF shut Dartmouth out for the entirety of the fourth quarter. Florida scored two goals courtesy of midfielders junior Gabby Koury and sophomore Gabbi Greene, which gave it an insurmountable lead.
At the end of the back-and-forth match, the No. 6 Gators (7-2) were able to hold onto their lead and secure their third home win 13-10 against Dartmouth (5-3, 1-1 Ivy) on Saturday at Donald R. Dizney Stadium.
Dartmouth was the aggressor to start, scoring two goals in quick succession, including one on a man-up play after a green card foul by Florida senior midfielder Kaitlyn Davies.
The teams then traded turnovers and goals, as the score evened up at 3-apiece by the end of the first quarter.
Halfway through the second quarter, the Gators had taken the lead, but Dartmouth fought back to make it a 6-6 contest.
Florida, however, started to pull away and ended the half up 10-7, capitalized by a hat trick by Koury.
Koury finished the competition with four goals, the most in the game. Following closely behind was redshirt sophomore attacker Frannie Hahn, Davies and sophomore attacker Clark Hamilton, who all posted two goals and one assist.
Before Radebaugh took over, Florida freshman starter Maya Soskin struggled in the cage, making only two saves and allowing six goals in just over 20 minutes of play.
The teams were even in many aspects, as both teams put an equal 31 shots on the scoreboard.. The Gators also committed 10 turnovers, three of which were caused by Dartmouth, and the Big Green committed 11, six of which were caused by Florida.
Dartmouth got the best of Florida in draw controls and ground balls, however. In their last game against Kennesaw State, the Gators showed some improvement in those areas, but they struggled in this contest.
The Big Green won 15 draw controls to the Gators 10, with three of their goals coming from quick shots out of a win in the draw circle. Dartmouth’s senior midfielder Caroline Kendall led the game with 10 draw control victories. For Florida, Koury led the team with three.
In terms of ground balls, Dartmouth recovered 14 to the Gators 10. The Big Green’s freshman attacker Madeline Egan and junior attacker Fiona O’Keeffe both led their team with three pickups each. Meanwhile, sophomore midfielders Riley Zusi and Chiara Scichilone each led Florida with two.
It was a physical game for both teams. Florida committed six green-card infractions and one yellow-card infraction, while the Big Green received five green-card infractions and one yellow-card infraction.
As a result of this, three of Dartmouth’s goals and five of Florida’s goals were either from free-position shots or power plays.
Florida will travel to Tempe, Arizona, to compete in its first Big 12 conference game of the season against Arizona State (5-5, 0-0 Big 12) Saturday at noon.
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.
