Special to GC
The No. 4 Florida lacrosse team finished the season undefeated in the American Lacrosse Conference to win its fourth consecutive ALC title and first outright since 2012 after surviving a late run by No. 5 Northwestern on Saturday at Lakeside Field. Freshman attack Sammi Burgess scored a career-high-tying four goals to lead the Gators past the Wildcats.
Florida took an early 3-0 lead just 7:50 into the game, eventually working to a 7-4 lead before halftime. The Gators came out strong in the second stanza as well, going up 11-5 with 17:25 left in the game. Northwestern then methodically starting chipping away at Florida’s lead, scoring three goals in three and a half minutes to move the score to 11-8 with 13:46 to play.
The Wildcats went on to score four of the final six goals, cutting the Gators’ lead to 13-12 with 2:09 on the clock. With 14 seconds left, Northwestern’s Kara Mupo found the back of the net to tie the game, but the goal was called off due to a crease violation. After that, Florida held on to the ball and the win as the clock dwindled down.
NUMBERS OF NOTE
- Sammi Burgess scored a career-high four goals, tying her output from the Vanderbilt game. She also recorded an assist to total five points and added two ground balls and a draw control.
- Taylor Bresnahan picked up a career-high five ground balls, while also tallying two caused turnovers and a draw control.
- Devon Schneider scored three goals, tied her career high of two caused turnovers and grabbed a ground ball.
- Shannon Gilroy grabbed three draw controls to tie Brittany Dashiell as the career leader with 214 draw controls. Gilroy also notched two goals, an assist and a caused turnover.
- Nora Barry scored two goals and added an assist to total 3 points. She also recorded two ground balls and two draw controls.
- Lauren Lea tallied a goal, an assist, a ground ball and a caused turnover.
- Sam Darcangelo rounded out the scoring with a goal. She also recorded three draw controls, two ground balls and a caused turnover.