Attacker Brianna Harris plummeted into the grass as she blindly threw an overhand shot in the air. With less than 90 seconds of regulation time in the first half, the redshirt senior notched a hat trick in and extended Florida’s advantage to 10.
The No. 8 Gators burned the Liberty Flames 17-2 Wednesday in Gainesville and left nothing but ashes as nine players scored in the back of the net. It was the first matchup ever between the teams.
Fifth year defender Cara Trombetta mercilessly pushed attacker upon attacker out of the defense and held her ground to a 15-point advantage. She fiercely guarded defense and imposed a Liberty shot-clock violation along with midfielder Shelton Sawers and defender Kaitlyn Dabkowski.
Shannon Kavanagh found success of her own as she soon followed Harris with a hat trick on the free position and closed the first half 11-0.
With a sharp pass from Harris in the attack zone, the powerhouse player moved towards the net swiftly and quickly. Going all in, the senior gave an overhand pop shot and brought the Gators to a five-point advantage just eight minutes into the game.
Kavanagh then effortlessly put in a turn-around shot to bring the Gators 7-0 and inched closer to the 200 career-goal mark.
The midfielder later impressed the crowd as she landed an astonishing behind-the-back shot 20 minutes into the second half and stacked up to a four-point goal count. She sits at 199 goals.
Grace Haus showed her dominance as she clawed away from Liberty midfielder Olivia Glaze and ran in for a successful pop shot. The goal was her second one of the half.
Attacker Kassidy Bresnahan also saw some action thirty seconds into the second half as she bolted to the net and snatched her second goal of the day. She slid into the ground shortly after. Earlier in the matchup, the senior made a wrap-around shot into the net to bring the score 4-0.
The five starting players didn’t dominate the game, however. An additional four players from the bench threw the ball in net during regulation and helped Florida grab its monstrous 15-point lead.
Emily Heller snagged her eighth goal of the season in a solid free position goal halfway through the second period. The sophomore midfielder gave Florida an 11-point lead.
Harrison whipped the ball into the net in a one on one battle with Liberty goaltender only two minutes left in the half. Florida moved 16-2.
With one final push in the last ten seconds, sophomore attacker Janine Suris got in a vivacious goal and topped of the Florida win 17-2.
“I thought that the second group came in off the bench and seamlessly executed what we asked them to do,” said head coach Amanda O’Leary. “This was a total team effort today.”
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsHear from @amandaoleary5 after today’s victory 🗣️#FLax #GoGators pic.twitter.com/7xSv93zQyF
— Gators Lacrosse (@GatorsLAX) April 28, 2021
Goaltender Sarah Reznick pulled in a fiery .75 save percentage with six saves in 51 minutes of gameplay. Backup goaltender Julia Hammerschlag took to the net the last nine minutes of the second half and got in one save.
The victory over the Flames makes for Florida’s 11th consecutive win on the season and its fewest goals-against since its win over Cincinnati 19-2 in April 2017.
The Gators host the AAC tournament May 6 and May 8 and take on Cincinnati opening day at 4:30 p.m.
Contact Faith Buckley on her Twitter @_faithbuckley
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