UF lacrosse lands postseason honors

Florida’s lacrosse team continues racking up postseason awards at a rapid pace.

The latest honors for members of the national semifinalist squad features Gators Sam Ferrell and Mikey Meagher making the 2012 NCAA All-Tournament team. They were instrumental in Florida’s defense allowing just 6.67 goals per game entering the Final Four, where they lost in double overtime against Syracuse.

Farrell had six groundballs and caused three turnovers in three games while Meagher led all goalkeepers with a .574 save percentage. She made 27 stops while allowing 20 goals. She tied her own school record with 15 saves against Syracuse and finished the season with a national-best .537 save percentage and 7.03 goals-against average per game.

On Monday, five Gators were named to the Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches’ Association All-American team. Farrell, Meagher and Billy Dashiell were named to the first team while Kitty Cullen made the second team and Jamie Reeg was on the third team.

Dashiell is one of five finalists for the prestigious Tewaaraton Award after leading the team with 69 points and 25 assists.

Cullen tied Dashiell with a team-high 69 points with 45 goals and 24 assists. She was an IWLCA first-team All-American after leading the team in goals in 2011.

Reeg, the Gators’ lock-down defender who usually guarded opponents’ top offensive weapons, had 26 ground balls, 19 draw controls and forced 11 turnovers.

On Sunday, SynapseSports.com named Meagher its 2012 Goalie of the Year. The website also named Farrell and Dashiell as first-team All-Americans. Cullen was named a second-team All-American. Shannon Gilroy was named a third-team All-American and made the All-Rookie Squad, where she was joined by teammate Nora Berry.

Last week, Meagher was named Goalie of the Year by WomenLax.com, which also named UF’s Amanda O’Leary as its National Coach of the Year. Meagher was joined by Cullen, Dashiell and Gilroy on the website’s All-American team.

mikecapshaw
Mike Capshaw brings a wealth of experience to the Gator Country team. He’s been overseeing all editorial aspects of GatorCountry.com and Gator Country magazine by managing our team of staffers, interns and freelancers. He is now moving into a bigger role as a reporter by covering the football and basketball beats as well as providing coverage of all sports on campus. Mike’s 15 years in the business has included more than six years of covering SEC sports and recruiting at a daily newspaper in Arkansas. He has also helped launch a newspaper, magazines, websites and even a sports talk radio show. Because Mike puts family ahead of his career, he left the place where he was established when his wife received an opportunity to further her career at UF. He took a leap of faith that he could find a job in the Gainesville area and worked for a year at a newspaper group before joining the Gator Country family in November, 2011. Mike has won Florida Press Association awards for Best Sports Game Story and Best Sports Feature Story in the past two years as well as a company-wide award at his former newspaper group that includes some 60 publications, for Excellence in Sports Reporting. You can follow Mike on Twitter at @MikeCapshawGC.