3/16/15-  In the past week, The Florida Gators (6-3) lost two games; a heartbreaking 13-14 overtime game to #5 Syracuse at home on Tuesday and a 6-16 decision at #1 Maryland on Saturday. On Tuesday, the Gators simply couldn’t close the game against a top-notch Syracuse Team.  Despite Junior midfielder Sam Darcangelo doing a superb job face-guarding 2014 Tewaaraton Finalist Kayla Traenor, The Orange were able to run an efficient offense and play solid defense when necessary.  Another key facet of the game played out in the draw circle. The Orange won the opening draw and the game commenced with exciting back and forth action.  After eight minutes, the game was tied at 2.  The Orange dominated the draw for most of the first half and this fact propelled the visitors on a three goal run over the course of the next three and a half minutes to make it 3-5.  The goals came from Loren Zieglar, Kelly Cross, and Taylor Gait.  The teams continued to exchange goals. Kailah Kempney was excelling for Syracuse by winning the draws.  UF Head Coach Amanda O’Leary responded to this by rotating who she had facing Kempney on the draw.  Shayna Pirreca and Taylor Bresnahan took turns inside the circle.  Both players had more success than Shannon Gilroy, whom normally takes the draws. With less than two minutes left in the first half, Syracuse was leading Florida 5-8.  Amanda O’Leary called a timeout in order to plan what we thought would be the final possession of the half.  Coming out of the timeout, The Gators worked their offense and pressed for an open shot, but it looked like the Syracuse defense would not allow a goal.  Then, Syracuse Junior Maddy Huegel fouled Shayna Pirreca leading to a free position.  The standout Freshman took one step and let go an underhand rip that flew by the Syracuse goalie.  The score was now 6-8 in favor of Syracuse with 1:06 remaining in the first half.  Nora Barry controlled the ensuing draw for Florida and, once again, it looked like the Orange defense would put up a stand until a foul allowed Carli Marsh a free position.  With 22.8 seconds remaining, Marsh made a bounce shot to ignite the home crowd and cut the ‘Cuse lead to 1 heading into halftime. Syracuse opened up the second half with two goals in the first two minutes, but the Gators wouldn’t allow a three goal deficit deter them.  Shannon Gilroy earned a free position 4 minutes into the half and, instead of taking a shot, dished the ball to Carly Ross behind the goal, who quickly passed the ball to Nora Barry right in front of the crease.  Barry finished the play with a quick-stick to pull the gators within two.  It was a beautiful “tic-tac-toe” play.

Shayna Pirreca took the ensuing draw and UF gained possession.  Pirreca  held the ball around the 12-meter and then dodged left.  The Freshman from Mount Sinai fired a rocket past Syracuse goalkeeper Kelsey Richardson while on the run to make it 9-10.  In my opinon, this was one of Pirreca’s best games.  In addition to scoring two goals on just two shots, she just seemed to be playing a major role for the offense all game and did an admirable job in the circle.  I don’t know if this affected her play, but Shayna seemed to have her own fan club as about ten men painted her name on their chests and cheered mightily whenever she had the ball. Maybe the extra support helped Pirreca on the field. With the Gators trailing by only one, Florida’s leader made her presence known.  Shannon Gilroy scored the next two goals to tie the game and take the lead for the first time.  The Gators held this 11-10 lead for all of five minutes.  With 13:57 remaining, Syracuse’s Kayla Traenor got her only point of the night when she assisted Riley Donahue to tie the game at 11.  After this, Kelly Cross of Syracuse and Carly Ross of Florida scored to make it 12-12. Only thirty seconds after the Ross goal, Nicole Graziano scored her only goal of the afternoon to give The Gators a one goal lead with only twelve minutes remaining.  It looked like UF would control the ball for the remainder of the game and run out the clock.  The Gators had possessed the ball for about seven minutes of the clock when Syracuse’s Brenna Rainone was called for a yellow card with only 4:17 left.  Amanda O’Leary’s squad continued to possess the ball.  When the Orange returned to even strength, they immediately went man-down again due to a yellow card on Haley McDonnell.  It looked to be certain that Florida would control the ball for the two-minute advantage as well as the remaining seven seconds to win the game, but, things hardly ever happen how you plan. With 1:51 remaining in regulation, Nicole Graziano was yellow carded for speaking to an official.  Just like that, Syracuse had the ball and Head Coach Gary Gait called a timeout to talk things over with his players. Syracuse transitioned the ball to offense and, with 1:14 remaining, Halle Majorana drove inside and finished low to tie the game for the sixth time. Syracuse’s Kelly Cross won the draw and The Orange nearly ended the game but Mary-Sean Wilcox made two stellar saves with less than ten seconds remaining on the clock. Florida gained the draw control to start the first overtime period but Carli Marsh was carded two minutes into the period.  Syracuse had a shot with four seconds remaining in the first overtime period but it sailed wide. To begin the second overtime period, Syracuse gained possession due to a UF foul on the draw.  Mary-Sean Wilcox made a big save on The Orange’s Riley Donahue but Donahue picked up the groundball from the rebound and was fouled, earning her a free position.  On the free position, Donahue passed to Kelly Cross who fired a high shot past Wilcox from inside the 8-meter. Syracuse would hold onto this 13-14 lead for the victory.  Kelly Cross won the next draw clean and Syracuse possessed for the remainder of the game.  The nail in the coffin came when Taylor Bresnahan was yellow carded while playing very aggressive defense in attempt to cause a much-needed turnover. The game ended with The Gators losing their second game of the season and Syracuse improving to 6-2. Only a couple days later, Florida traveled to College Park, Maryland to take on the #1 Terrapins. The Terps are the unanimous number one team in the country and they are led by possibly the nation’s number one player in Taylor Cummings.  It was certainly a tough task for the Gators and, unfortunately, they could not rise to the occasion for a full sixty minutes. Shannon Gilroy got the orange and blue on the scoreboard first less than two minutes into the game, but three Maryland goals came before ten minutes had elapsed in the first half.  A minute later, the score was 4-2 following Sammi Burgess and Taylor Cummings goals.  The Gators crawled back to tie the game at 5 with 12:37 remaining following goals by Mollie Stevens, Carly Ross, and another by Gilroy.  This seemed like a moral victory for Florida in itself Maryland ended the half on a great run.  They scored four straight goals, including two in the final 35 seconds of the first half.  Maryland continued their dominance in the second half.  The Terps outscored the Gators 1-7 in the second half.  The lone Florida second half goal came from Devon Schneider on a free position.  For Maryland, Brooke Griffin scored five goals, while Kell McPartland and Megan Whittle each added hat-tricks.

The game ended with a final score of Florida 6, Maryland 16. Wilcox made eight saves in the losing effort for the Gators.   A week ago, Florida (6-3) was ranked 5th by the Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA) and 6th in the Media Poll.  Today, when the rankings were released, the Gators had fallen 1 spot in each and are currently ranked 6th in the IWLCA poll and 7th in the Media Poll. This is the Gator’s worst ranking of the season, but, given that they have three losses, their position is still respectable.  All three of the UF losses have come at the hands of current top five teams.  To find another ranked team with more than two losses, you have to go all the way down the list to #17 Loyola, whom The Gators defeated earlier this month.  The media does seem to respect the Gator’s tenacity and strength of schedule; Amanda O’Leary’s three-loss squad is higher ranked than 4 undefeated teams and an additional 4 teams with only a single loss. A streaky Florida Gators team has another opportunity to prove themselves against another top-20 team when #14 Stony Brook comes to Gainesville on Tuesday, March 17th.