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Florida toppled the Temple Owls 19-4 to win their seventh consecutive conference championship

With eight minutes left in the most important game of the season, attacker Kassidy Bresnahan quickly passed the ball into the hands of Brianna Harris. In the blink of an eye, the senior led a clean overhand shot to give the Gators a 16-point lead. 

The Gators lacrosse team held their sticks up victorious as they defeated Temple University 19-4 in the American Athletic Conference Finals Saturday. They clutched a conference win for the seventh consecutive season in a row – aside from the 2020 season that abruptly ended due to COVID-19. 

Florida held their weight on both sides of the field, as the No. 3 team collected 35 shots, five saves and 11 draw controls.

Brianna Harris broke out nine minutes into the game with a fierce pop shot into the back of the cage and pulled in a difficult wraparound shot to bring the score 

The redshirt senior earned the Most Outstanding Player award for the AAC Championships as she topped the competition with a staggering seven goals.

“We created a lot of opportunities for ourselves,” head coach Amanda O’Leary said. 

Parents and fans quickly raised to their feet three minutes into gameplay as human Dynamo Shannon Kavanagh mounted her feet and shot a quick pop shot from the right corner of the cage. 

Kavanagh reeled in her second goal at 24:30 with a stellar behind-the-back shot. “This is the Shannon show,” one fan said. 

The midfielder of the year earned a hat trick 18 minutes into the first as she came fiercely around the net for a wraparound shot. 

Kavanagh holds 15 hat tricks an incredible 62 goals throughout this season.

Attacker Grace Haus released a pop shot to bring the Gators lead 3-0 only seven minutes into gameplay and intimidated Temple as they called for a timeout shortly after.

Haus ran it back as she pushed through the red and white for a clean overhand goal only a minute later to bring the Gators 4-0. 

Whole TEAM effort today 👊

Highlights ⤵️#FLax #GoGators pic.twitter.com/ehqiX5bNAz

— Gators Lacrosse (@GatorsLAX) May 8, 2021

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Defender Kaitlyn Dabkowski stood tall in the defense and targeted Temple players left and right. Specifically, she protected the zone from midfielder Owl Belle Mastropietro. The senior collected three cross turnovers throughout the game.

“It puts us at ease on the offensive end to do our thing,” Haus said regarding Florida’s defense.

Whitney Albert, Kaala Puglisi, Emily Lortz and Bella Palagonia ran to the field as starters retired on the bench to finish the final six minutes of regulation in the second half.

Sophomore Jill Quigley made her mark late in the game with a tight overhand shot with the help of Puglisi four minutes left in the second.

In net, redshirt freshman Sarah Reznick held three saves and a .429 save percentage throughout the final game of the year. 

The Gators go on to compete in the offseason as they work towards the NCAA Championships.

Contact Faith Buckley on Twitter @_faithbuckley