No. 2 Florida Rolls to 17-3 ALC Semis Win Over Ohio State; Advances To Championship on Sunday Baltimore, Md. - Second-ranked Florida Lacrosse scored 13 unanswered goals en route to a 17-3 romp of No. 5 seed Ohio State in the ALC Tournament semifinals at Homewood Field on Friday afternoon. No 1 seed Florida (17-1) advances to the championship game on Sunday for the second-straight season earning a chance to defend its title, playing the winner of No. 2 seed Northwestern and No. 3 seed Penn State at noon. Bruns scored five goals while Cullen chipped in five points as they handed the Buckeyes their largest loss of the season and earned the second-largest win in tournament history. ALC Semifinals - Baltimore, Md. (Homewood Field) No. 1 seed Florida 17 (17-1) No. 5 seed Ohio State 3 (8-10) Florida SCORING: GOALS: Ashley Bruns 5; Kitty Cullen 3; Brittany Dashiell 3; Shannon Gilroy 2; Gabi Wiegand 2; Nicole Graziano 1; Nora Barry 1. ASSISTS: Kitty Cullen 2; Shannon Gilroy 2; Nora Barry 1; Nicole Graziano 1; Gabi Wiegand 1. Shots Ohio State - 20 Florida - 27 Draws Ohio State -11 Florida -11 Ground Balls Ohio State -11 Florida -14 Saves Ohio State - 5 Florida - 7 "I couldn't be more pleased with our offense today," Head coach Amanda O'Leary said. "They did a fantastic job and great job off the draws with Kayla (Stolins) and Brittany (Dashiell) along with the rest of the supporting cast and how they controlled the tempo." UF had seven different goal scorers including Bruns and Cullen as ALC Midfielder of the Year Brittany Dashiell (Bel Air, Md.) had a hat trick as she sits two points shy of 200 points headed into Sunday's game. Senior attack Gabi Wiegand (Bay Shore, N.Y.) and sophomore Shannon Gilroy (Northport, N.Y.) each turned in two goal games as Gilroy added two assists while Wiegand added one. The Gators continued to play some stellar defense, as it marked the eighth time they have held an opponent to five goals or less this season. S defender Kayla Stolins (Glen Arm, Md.) recorded a team-high two caused turnovers as Florida forced six total in the contest. Stolins combined with Dashiell to each record four draws as UF recorded 11 draws total. Florida turned in its second-highest scoring half of the season, with a 13-0 lead headed into the break as they got off to a quick start and never looked back. Bruns scored back-to-back goals 40 seconds into the game on a wrap around for the first score of the day, while Wiegand found her on a free position to make it 2-0. Dashiell worked her way on to the stat sheet off a free position just 2:10 into the contest, while Cullen followed with back-to-back goals three and a half minutes later for a 5-0 lead. Ohio State got on the board after the break on a Jackie Cifarelli free position. Florida responded with Bruns' fifth goal of the day followed by a Nicole Graziano (Mendham, N.J.) goal that gave the Orange and Blue a 16-1 lead. The Buckeyes (8-10) strung together back-to-back goals with 16:11 to play but that would be all on their scoring front as Florida would keep possession as Dashiell would add the final goal of the game at the 11:46 mark. Sophomores Nora Barry (Marcellus, N.Y.) and Nicole Graziano each added two points to wrap up the Gators scorers for the day. On the day, the two teams tied in draws (11-11) and Florida won ground balls (14-11). The Orange and Blue also outshot the Buckeyes (27-20) as they held them to just six shots in the first half. Senior goalie Mikey Meagher (Liverpool, N.Y.) recorded five saves and combined with freshman goalie Mary-Sean Wilcox (Lutherville, Md.) who saved two shots for seven saves total in the game. "Defensively, I thought Mikey did a great job of being a leader out there today and defending her territory" O'Leary said. Sunday's championship game will be available for free on Hopkins All-Access with audio on GatorZone.com with Cory Stephens and Kyle Benzion on the call.
