Coral Shores High School junior defender and team captain, Katharine Hamer, has verbally committed to the #3 nationally ranked Florida Gators women’s lacrosse team for the 2015 season. Katharine will be executing a Letter of Intent on National Signing Day next November as a senior. Katharine started playing lacrosse as a freshman at Coral Shores where she immediately became a starting defender due to her outstanding athleticism. Kat was noticed at a summer lacrosse camp at UF by the coaches when she was a freshman and has been on the Gator coaches’ radar ever since. Last season the Gators competed in the final 4 of the National Championships coming in as the #1 ranked women’s team in the nation! Unfortunately, the Gators fell to the Syracuse Orange in the semi-finals and fell short of playing in the National Championship game. The Gators are very hopeful that they will be returning to the finals this year as well. The head coach for the Florida Gators is Amanda O’Leary. (The Gators coaches and staff can not officially comment on Katharine’s verbal commitment in accordance with NCAA Rules)  QUOTES:  “Katharine is an exceptional athlete and a very good lacrosse player… we are all so very proud her and recognize how hard she has worked to receive this opportunity with the Gators!”—Mark Hall, Head Coach  “We are so happy that we still get to have Katharine for another two lacrosse seasons, Katharine has set the bar very high for the rest of our team, her scholarship to Florida will be a major inspiration for our other players so that they know that hard work and determination can pay off for them as well!” —Mark Hall, Head Coach “Receiving a scholarship from the #3 team in Division 1 Women’s Lacrosse (University of Florida) is an incredible accomplishment. Most people don’t understand that athletic scholarship money is very limited; D1 lacrosse programs only get 12 scholarships to field a team of 36. Most D1 freshmen don’t get any scholarship money; that typically is reserved for returning starters. This is GREAT tribute to Katharine’s talent and work-ethic. It’s also a great tribute to Coach (Mark) Hall and his lacrosse program.”—-Rich Russell, AD,CoralShoresHigh School