COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Florida women’s lacrosse team ended its inaugural season Friday with a 16-9 loss to No. 10 Vanderbilt in the American Lacrosse Conference Tournament semifinals at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium on the campus of Ohio State University.
Coach Amanda O’Leary’s Gators finished with a 10-8 record that included three victories over ranked opponents. Vanderbilt (12-4) opened up a 10-goal lead in the first 10 minutes of the second half and Florida could not answer.
Ashley Bruns got the Gators on the board just 33 seconds into the game, but Vanderbilt scored five unanswered goals over the next 20 minutes to take a 5-1 lead. The Commodore’s Sarah Downing had two goals and an assist in the scoring run.
After a Vanderbilt turnover at midfield, Haydon Judge raced toward the goal and dished a pass to Janine Hillier, who beat goalie Natalie Wills to cut the lead back to three goals with 5:52 remaining before halftime. Hannah Clark added one more goal and Vanderbilt took a 6-2 lead into the locker room at the break.
Allie Frank needed just 11 seconds of the second half to give the Commodores a 7-2 lead, but Florida answered on a goal by Caroline Chesterman. But Vanderbilt scored the next six goals for a 13-3 lead.
Brittany Dashiell ended the scoring drought for Florida off a feed from Chesterman with 16:28 to play and then Chesterman added her second free-position goal to cut Vanderbilt’s lead to 13-5. But the Commodores were in cruise control.
Chesterman led the Gators with five points on three goals and two assists, while Cullen finished with three goals on the day. Bruns, Dashiell and Hillier each added one goal.
The Commodores play No. 2 Northwestern, a 15-9 winner over Penn State in the other semifinal, for the ALC Championship at 2 p.m. Saturday.
WOMEN’S LACROSSE
AMERICAN LACROSSE CONFERENCE
Conference Overall
(Rank) School W-L Pct. W-L Pct.
(2) Northwestern 5-0 1.000 16-1 .938
(10) Vanderbilt 4-1 .800 12-4 .750
(20) Johns Hopkins 3-2 .600 10-7 .588
(17) Penn State 1-4 .200 10-7 .588
Ohio State 1-4 .200 9-8 .529
Florida 1-4 .200 10-8 .556
(rank) Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association ranking
SCHEDULE
ALC TOURNAMENT / Ohio State University / Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium / Columbus, Ohio
THURSDAY / May 6
(4) Penn State 14, (5) Ohio State 12
(6) Florida 14, (3) Johns Hopkins 3
FRIDAY / May 7
(1) Northwestern 15, (4) Penn State 9
(2) Vanderbilt 16, (6) Florida 9
SATURDAY / May 8
Championship: (1) Northwestern (16-1) vs. (2) Vanderbilt (12-4), 2 p.m.
RANKINGS
May 4, 2010
INTERCOLLEGIATE WOMEN’S LACROSSE COACHES ASSOCIATION
1. Maryland (17-1); 2. Northwestern (15-1); 3. North Carolina (14-2); 4. Virginia (13-5); 5. Duke (12-5); 6. Pennsylvania (14-3); 7. James Madison (14-2); 8. Towson (13-3); 9. Georgetown (11-5); 10. Vanderbilt (11-4); 11. Syracuse (12-5); 12. Dartmouth (11-4); 13. Loyola, Md. (11-6); 14. Notre Dame (11-5); 15. Stanford (14-5); 16. Hofstra (11-5); 17. Penn State (9-6); 18. Rutgers (11-5); 19. Albany, N.Y. (13-2); 20. Johns Hopkins (10-6).
deBEER / INSIDE LACROSSE MEDIA
1. Maryland (17-1); 2. Northwestern (15-1); 3. North Carolina (14-2); 4. Pennsylvania (14-3); 5. Virginia (13-5); 6. Duke (12-5); 7. James Madison (14-2); 8. Towson, Md. (13-3); 9. Georgetown (11-5); 10. Dartmouth (11-4); 11. Vanderbilt (11-4); 12. Syracuse (12-5); 13. Notre Dame (10-6); 14. Loyola (11-6); 15. Stanford (14-5); 16. Hofstra (11-5); 17. Albany, N.Y. (13-2); 18. Boston College (12-5); 19. Denver (13-5); 20. Navy (16-3).
LAXPOWER.COM COMPUTER
1. North Carolina (14-2); 2. Northwestern (15-1); 3. Maryland (17-1); 4. Duke (12-5); 5. Virginia (13-5); 6. Pennsylvania (14-3); 7. James Madison (14-2); 8. Syracuse (12-5); 9. Georgetown (11-5); 10. Vanderbilt (11-4); 11. Towson, Md. (13-3); 12. Dartmouth (11-4); 13. Loyola, Md. (11-6); 14. Hofstra (11-5); 15. Notre Dame (11-5); 16. Johns Hopkins (10-6); 17. Boston College (12-5); 18. Albany, N.Y. (13-2); 19. Stanford (14-5); 20. Penn State (9-6); 21. Ohio State (9-7); 22. Florida (9-7); 23. Louisville (11-6); 24. Princeton (6-10); 25. Denver (13-5).
LAXPOWER FORUM POLL
1. Maryland (17-1); 2. Northwestern (15-1); 3. North Carolina (14-2); 4. Virginia (13-5); 5. Pennsylvania (14-3); 6. Duke (12-5); 7. James Madison (14-2); 8. Towson, Md. (13-3); 9. Georgetown (11-5); 10. Vanderbilt (11-4); 11. Syracuse (12-5); 12. Dartmouth (11-4); 13. Loyola, Md. (11-6); 14. Notre Dame (11-5); 15. Stanford (14-5); 16. Hofstra (11-5); 17. Albany (13-2); 18. Johns Hopkins (10-6); 19. Denver (13-5); 20. Boston College (12-5).