May 6, 2015– On Friday, May 8^th, the University of Florida women’s lacrosse team will travel to Chapel Hill, North Carolina to face off against the Stanford Cardinal in the first round of the NCAA Division 1 Tournament. The winner will play May 10^th against the UNC Tar Heels, one of 8 schools hosting first and second round games. This will be the Gators’ second all-time meeting with the Cardinal.  The first came in 2011, only the second year of UF’s program, when Florida bested Stanford 13-11 in forFlorida’s first ever NCAA tournament game.  Interestingly, Amanda O’Leary will be coaching against her daughter, Madison, who is a midfielder for “the Trees.”

Stanford has had an impressive season, headlined by going 14-2 and winning the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation championship. Stanford and Florida faced only two common opponents this season; San Diego State and Vanderbilt.  If you use these common opponents to compare the two teams, Stanford appears to have a slight advantage.  Against San Diego State, Florida won by ten (17-7) while Stanford won by twelve (22-10).  Against Vanderbilt, Florida won by nine (19-10) whereas Stanford won by eleven (22-11).  As you can see, the Cardinal scored more goals than the Gators against both teams, but also allowed more goals. In other measurements the teams appear fairly equal.  In the media poll, Stanford is ranked one spot ahead of Florida; the teams are numbers ten and eleven, respectively. In the coaches’ poll, though, Florida is ranked tenth while Stanford is number sixteen.  According to LaxPower’s computer rating, UF has a power rating of 97.25 (5^th in the nation) compared to Stanford’s rating of 96.51 (10^th in the nation).  The teams are also close in terms of rating percentage index, or RPI.  The blue and orange have an RPI value of 0.6107 (15^th in the nation) and the Cardinal have an RPI value of 0.6234 0 (13^th in the nation). You can see how the teams stack up using this chart:

Florida	Metric	Stanford
15-4	Overall Record	15-2
1-4	Record vs. Current Top 20	1-1
11	Media Poll ranking	10
10	Coaches Poll ranking	16
5	LaxPower Computer ranking	10
15	RPI (national ranking)	13
24	Strength of Schedule(national ranking)	36
16.05	Goals per game	16.35
7.74	Goals Against per game	9.41
29.8	Shots per game	32.1
17.4	Shots Against per game	20.4
0.54	Shooting Percentage	0.51
5.95	Free Positions Attempted per game	6.88
0.549	Free Position Percentage	0.487
4.47	Free Positions Allowed per game	3.64
0.435	Opponent Free Position Percentage	0.387
0.56	Draw Control Percentage	0.61
0.866	Clear Percentage	0.927
0.77	Opponent Clear Percentage	0.77
8.21	Turnovers per game	12.24
8.16	Caused Turnovers per game	8.06
Mary-Sean Wilcox/ .411	Starting Goalie/ Save Percentage	Allie DeCar/ .390
Shannon Gilroy/ 67, 89	Leading Scorer/ Goals, Points	Lucy Dikeou/ 43, 57

  As has been the case all season for Amanda O’leary’s Gators, their leader will be Shannon Gilroy, who is fifth in the nation for both goals and total points.  For the team to be successful, though, Gilroy may have to do more than score goals; controlling possession at the draw circle has been key in all of UF’s close games.  On most draws, it looks like the Tewaaraton Nominee will be pitted against fellow Tewaaraton Nominee Lucy Dikeou.  This battle in the circle could be what decides the game. Beyond their top scorers, both teams have depth; Florida has seven players with 30+ points and Stanford has six.  Expect a big game from Nora Barry, who always plays her best when it matters most, for the Gators and a large contribution from Hannah Farr, who can be dangerous with her free positions, for the Cardinal. If Nicole Graziano, a red-shirt junior, can play as well as she has played at times for UF, the combination of her, Barry, and Gilroy at midfield may be too much for Stanford to handle.  For the Cardinal, the lethal attack grouping of Rachel Ozer, Alexandra Crerand, and Kyle Fraser have the ability to take control of this game.

On the defensive side, Florida has the advantage.  The Gators have allowed only 7.7 goals a game, which is good for 11^th in the nation.  Sophomore defenders Caroline Fitzgerald and Taylor Bresnahan both earned All-Big East honors and Mary-Sean Wilcox has made the key saves when needed.  Plus, if Coach O’Leary decides that Lucy Dikeou is dangerous enough to warrant a face-guard, Sam Darcangelo has proven she is more than capable of the task. Thanks in part to Darcangelo, the Gators held arguably the nation’s two best players, Kayla Treanor and Taylor Cummings, to a combined 2 goals and 2 assists. This should be an exciting game as the nation’s two highest scoring offenses go head to head.  The winner, though, will be the team that can get the stops on defense and can control the middle of the field.   We will found out who that will be when The University of Florida Gators take on The Stanford Cardinal on Friday at 5 pm in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.