ChompTalk.com

The No. 4 Florida Gators advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament with a 18-6 defeat of Mercer in Friday’s post-season opener.

For Florida, it was their fifteenth straight win, improving to 18-2 overall on the season.

Junior attacker Gianna Monaco scored a Career-High seven goals and added an assist to the ledger. She has recorded seventeen goals in her last three outings.

Monaco opened the scoring with 9:33 remaining in the first quarter and the Gators never looked back, going wire to wire for the win.

The Gators commanded a 4-2 lead following one period, much closer than anticipated, but rattled off a 8-0 run in the second period that gave Florida a 12-2 advantage.

Through three quarters, Florida managed a 15-4 lead. Freshman Gabby Greene scored late in the period on a feed from Frannie Hahn, who recorded her 55th assist of the season, a program record.

Florida completed the win with a pair of goals in the fourth by Monaco and another tally from  Jenny Markey.

In total, three players (Kaitlyn Davies, Greene, and Gabby Koury) found the back of the net twice while five more (Jordan Basso, Josie Hahn, Celeste Forte, Clark Hamilton, and Ava Tighe) scored a goal.

In the net, Elyse Finnelle recoded five saves before giving way to Georgia Hoey (2 saves) and Susan Radebaugh.

Florida improved to 7-0 all time in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament with the win.

The Gators will take on Stanford in the second round. The game will take place at Dizney Stadium in Gainesville with the opening draw set for 11:00 AM on Sunday.