The inaugural season of Florida lacrosse ended Friday in the semifinals of the American Lacrosse Conference tournament with a 16-9 loss to No. 10 Vanderbilt, but many see a positive outlook for the young program.
Before playing Vanderbilt, the Gators gave one of their best performances of the season to upset No. 20 Johns Hopkins 14-3.
UF coach Amanda O’Leary was impressed with both the defensive and offensive efforts in Thursday’s redemption of a 16-8 loss to Johns Hopkins in March.
Freshman attacker Kitty Cullen’s six goals on six shots Thursday helped earn her a spot on the ALC All-Tournament team.
“It was definitely the highlight of the season,” Cullen said of the win over Johns Hopkins.
For Florida, playing two top-20 teams on back-to-back days proved to be too much.
“Vandy had fresh legs, they came out strong,” said Cullen, who scored three goals. “We came out flat.”
Freshman midfielder Caroline Chesterman agreed with Cullen’s assessment.
“We were more fatigued than Vandy,” Chesterman said. “We definitely made mental mistakes like passes we normally wouldn’t make.”
O’Leary agreed there were mental mistakes, adding that “they became physical mistakes.”
The point the fatigue kicked in and mistakes became problematic was at the beginning of the second half.
After swapping goals in the first minute of the second half, Vanderbilt went on a 6-0 scoring run in the first 10 minutes of the second half extending its 6-2 halftime lead to 13-3.
Florida managed to outscore Vanderbilt 6-3 in the final 17 minutes, but it was not to threaten Vanderbilt’s lead.
“They never gave up,” O’Leary said.
Before the team returned to Gainesville, players were already talking about next season.
“The tournament was a great experience,” Chesterman said. “We have a great team. We’re really excited for next year.”
Cullen already wants another try at Vanderbilt.
“We’ll get them next year,” Cullen said. “Everyone’s pumped (for next season).”
O’Learly was “pleased with how things turned out” in the first season, and wants to build on it for the upcoming season.
“We want to end on a positive,” O’Leary said. “Beating (Johns) Hopkins puts us on the right track for summer and the right attitude going into next year. I’m excited for the future with this group.”
