COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Florida women’s lacrosse team picked a good time to play its best game of the season. Kitty Cullen tied the school record with six goals and the defense once again was outstanding in a 14-3 conquest of No. 20 Johns Hopkins in the opening round of the American Lacrosse Conference Tournament hosted by Ohio State.
The victory avenged a 16-8 loss to Johns Hopkins for coach Amanda O’Leary’s team.
The Gators became just the sixth Division I women’s lacrosse program to win 10 games in its first-ever season. With the victory, Florida (10-7) advances to play No. 10 Vanderbilt (11-4) in the second semifinal Friday at 5:30 p.m. The opening semifinal matches up top-seeded Northwestern (15-1) against 10-6 Penn State, which downed host Ohio State 14-12 in the other first-round matchup Thursday.
Florida controlled play from the start and got another strong performance from goalie Cara Canington, who faced 15 shots and made 14 saves, allowing just one goal in more than 57 minutes of play.
After a five-minute scoreless start, Caroline Cochran got the Gators on the board first. ALC Rookie of the Year Ashley Bruns made it 2-0 lead, and then Florida scored seven unanswered goals, three by Cullen, to build a 9-0 lead.
Candace Rossi, who had five goals in the first meeting between the two teams, scored the Blue Jays’ lone goal of the first half. But Jamie Reeg scored her second goal of the game and her third of the season to put the Gators up 10-1 at halftime.
Cullen, who scored six goals with just six shots, opened the second half with two more goals to build a 12-1 lead with 20 minutes to play. Caroline Chesterman and Bruns capped the scoring for Florida. The six goals by Cullen match the six scored by Bruns, who had three goals Thursday and leads Florida with 47 for the season. Chesterman and Reeg each had two goals and Cochran scored one. Janine Hillier had two assists and two ground balls and Brittany Dashiell had one assist, four draw controls and one ground ball.
Earlier this season, Florida lost to Vanderbilt 12-7 in Gainesville. The Commodores have not played since losing 27-9 at Northwestern on April 24. The winners of Friday’s semifinals will meet for the ALC Tournament title Saturday at 2 p.m.
ALC TOURNAMENT / Ohio State University / Columbus, Ohio
THURSDAY / May 6
(6) Florida 14, (3) Johns Hopkins 3
(4) Penn State 14, (5) Ohio State 12
FRIDAY / May 7
(1) Northwestern (15-1) vs. (4) Penn State (10-6), 3 p.m.
(2) Vanderbilt (11-4) vs. (6) Florida (10-7), 5:30 p.m.
SATURDAY / May 8
Championship, 2 p.m.