Gators and Hoyas Ready for Rematch Under the Lights
Wednesday, March 9, 2011 | Lacrosse
The No. 14 Florida lacrosse team takes on the No. 9 Georgetown Hoyas under the lights of Dizney Stadium tonight at 6:30 p.m. This will be Florida's first top-10 matchup at home this season.
The Gators are on a four-game win streak, the longest in program history. With victories over Jacksonville, Denver, UMBC and Lehigh, the Orange and Blue are picking up momentum in the middle of their nine-game homestand.
Saturday's defeat of Lehigh marked Coach Amanda O'Leary's 250th career game as a Division I head coach. She owns a 176-74 (.704) winning percentage.
Florida is led by sophomore midfielder and Tewaaraton Watch List honoree Kitty Cullen (Rockville, Md.), who is third in the NCAA in goals overall and goals per game, while ranking 10th in points overall. Florida is 12th in the NCAA in points, 14th in scoring offense, 12th in scoring defense and 12th in scoring margin. Sophomore goalkeeper Mikey Meagher (Liverpool, N.Y.) is 10th in the NCAA in GA avg.
No. 9 Georgetown fell in their season opener to No. 2 Northwestern, 15-24. The Hoyas were led by senior attacker Jordy Kirr, who scored six points (1 G, 5 A) against the Wildcats. The Hoyas won the BIG EAST regular season Championship, as well as the BIG EAST Tournament Championship. They return three regional All-Americans in Kirr, senior defender Logan McCraw and junior midfielder Kelly Barnes.
Florida's last meeting with the Hoyas was on March 4th, 2010 at Dizney Stadium. Georgetown stormed out to a 10-5 lead at halftime. Florida rallied to pull within two but couldn't seal the victory, falling 11-13. Caroline Chesterman (South Nyack, N.Y.) led the Gators with three goals.
The Georgetown team is familiar in more ways than one. Georgetown defender Carly Napora played with Cullen and Colby Rhea (Abington, Md.) at the McDonogh School, while attacker Jacqueline Giles was a high school teammate of Ashley Bruns (Ellicott City, Md.) and Amanda Wedekind (Ellicott City, Md.) at Mount Hebron.
The Gators' matchup with the Hoyas will be broadcast on Fox Sports Florida with Larry Vettel and former Gators assistant Jennifer Ulehla commentating for the first televised game of 2011. Fans can also listen on www.GatorZone.com with Andrew Suarez on the call.
