Florida Gators lacrosse defeats another top 10 team

Special report on the Florida Gators lacrosse team:

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Fifth-year senior Nicole Graziano stepped up big for the Orange and Blue with four goals, an assist, five draw controls and two caused turnovers as the No. 3 Gators edged No. 10 Stony Brook, 7-6, at LaValle Stadium Sunday afternoon. Florida improved to 7-0 on the season with its third top-10 win on the road and fourth ranked win of the season.

Graziano, the reigning BIG EAST Midfielder of the Week, made a case for weekly honors yet again with season highs in goals (4), points (5) and draw controls (5) against Stony Brook. In the cage, senior Mary-Sean Wilcox went the distance for Florida to improve to 7-0 on the season with eight saves. Wilcox has eight or more saves in all three of UF's top-10 road wins.

Florida was dominating in the draw circle, taking 11 draws compared to Stony Brook's two.

Junior Mollie Stevens put the Gators on the board first at the 26:38 mark of the first period, but the Seawolves countered with two straight scores for the 2-1 lead before Graziano took over with four unanswered scores for the 5-2 lead at the half.

The Seawolves slowly chipped away at the Gators lead to tie the game 5-5 at the 14:19 mark in the second period on a man-up, free-position goal, but junior attack Sammi Burgess got one right back for Florida after being fed by Graziano with 14:07 on the clock. Junior defender Taylor Bresnahan followed with her third defensive goal of the season for the 7-5 Florida lead before Stony Brook countered with 9:35 on the clock to narrow UF's lead, 7-6.

Stony Brook took the lone shot in the last nine minutes of play with 1:08 on the clock, and Wilcox came up huge yet again to solidify Florida's seventh win of the season.

The Gators now return home to the Sunshine State for a five-game home stand after snapping Stony Brook's five-game home-opener winning streak with Sunday's victory.

THE RECORDS
No. 3 Florida: 7-0
No. 10 Stony Brook: 1-1

NUMBERS OF NOTE

*         31: straight games with a goal for junior Mollie Stevens, who has scored in every game she has played in dating back to May 2, 2014

*         13: straight games with at least one save for senior goalkeeper Mary-Sean Wilcox, who had eight against the Seawolves

*         11: consecutive games with a point for junior Sammi Burgess, who scored Florida's sixth goal of the game

*         8: days, four games and four wins for Florida over Spring Break

*         6: defensive goals for Florida in seven games, as junior Taylor Bresnahan took her third of the season to the house against Stony Brook for the game winner

*         4: road wins for the Gators in 2016 so far, three of which are top-10 wins

*         4: all-time wins now for the Gators over the Seawolves, as Florida owns the all-time lead in the history of the series with Stony Brook, 4-1, including their second win in Stony Brook territory

O'LEARY ANALYSIS

"This was a hard-fought win. Nicole (Graziano) did a great job today playing a complete game: offensively, defensively and on the draw. We've played four games in the last eight days... and we came out with four wins. It's been a tough stretch. We're looking forward to being at home in Gainesville for the next couple of weeks."

UP NEXT
Next up, the Orange and Blue will enjoy a nice five-game home stand in the Sunshine State. The Gators will host No. 14 Boston College (3/11), No. 20 Towson (3/14), No. 1 Maryland (3/19), Vanderbilt (3/26) and Temple (4/2) before their next road swing to Georgetown April 9.
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.