Florida Gators lacrosse cruises past Cincinnati on the road

Special report on the Florida Gators lacrosse team:

CINCINNATI, Ohio – The Gators continued their strong play in BIG EAST action with their 29th consecutive win in conference. Florida defeated the Cincinnati Bearcats 20-4 at Gettler Stadium on the Cincinnati campus.

Florida fell behind early in the game when the Bearcats threw a pass nearly the length of the field to get behind the Gator defense for the goal. After falling behind the Gators scored three quick goals as Shannon Kavanagh, Allie Pavinelli and Sydney Pirreca found the back of the net.

The first half was all Gators from that point on with nine straight goals to open up a commanding 9-1 lead. In the half, both Lindsey Ronbeck and Shannon Kavanagh earned hat tricks while eight different Gators scored goals on their way to a 14-2 halftime lead.

With a running clock for the entire second half, Florida didn’t let up on offense. The Gators scored six goals on 16 shots in the final period. With the clock nearing zero Shannon Kavanagh recorded her 12th draw control of the afternoon, setting a new single-game record at Florida. On the year Kavanagh has 62 draw controls, the fifth best singes-season mark in school history.

Records:
No. 6 Florida: 12-3 (7-0 BIG EAST)
Marquette: 6-8 (0-7 BIG EAST)

Gator Notable:
* The Gators have now won 29 consecutive games against BIG EAST opponents dating back to the 2015 season
* Florida improved to 5-0 all-time against Cincinnati and 2-0 in the road
* Florida has had multiple hat tricks in 13 of 15 games this season, including six straight
* Shayna Pirreca has scored a goal in 35 consecutive games, a Florida lacrosse record. Pirreca has also tallied a point in 37 straight outings, the fourth-best mark in program history
* Junior goalkeeper Haley Hicklen picked up a ground ball in the first half, extending her streak to a Florida record of 32 consecutive games
* Junior Jillian Alonso scored her first goal of the year in the second half
* Gator Hat Tricks: Ronbeck (4), Pavinelli (4), Kavanagh (3)
* Kavanagh led the Gators in ground balls with 6 and draw controls with 12. This is her second game this season with double-digit draw controls
* Gator Goal Scorers: Ronbeck (4), Pavinelli (4), Kavanagh (3), Shay Pirreca (2), Grace Haus (2), Syd Pirreca (1), Maddie Hall (1), Eddy Shoop (1), Kassidy Bresnahan(1), Alonso
* Hicklen recorded four saves, Olivia Cole had two saves and Kenzii Kittell recorded three saves
* Haus led the Gators with two assists
* Ronbeck recorded a team-best five points, followed by Haus, Kavanagh, and Pavinelli who each had four
* Florida caused seven turnovers in the game
* Nine of the Gators 20 goals came on free position shots
* The Gators were perfect on clear attempts going 14-for-14

O’Leary’s Insight:
“All around great effort today by the entire team. The scoring was equally distributed and I thought we moved the ball well to find the free player. Defensively we did a very good job as an entire unit. Shannon and Sabrina were outstanding on the draw.”

Up Next
The Florida Lacrosse team will complete their week-long road trip on Saturday, April 21 when the Gators take on the Pioneers of Denver University. The game against Denver is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. (ET)

Andrew Spivey
Andrew always knew he wanted to be involved with sports in some capacity. He began by coaching high school football for six years before deciding to pursue a career in journalism. While coaching, he was a part of two state semifinal teams in the state of Alabama. Given his past coaching experience, he figured covering recruiting would be a perfect fit. He began his career as an intern for Rivals.com, covering University of Florida football recruiting. After interning with Rivals for six months, he joined the Gator Country family as a recruiting analyst. Andrew enjoys spending his free time on the golf course and watching his beloved Atlanta Braves. Follow him on Twitter at @AndrewSpiveyGC.