COLLEGE PARK, Md. – Playing in cold and rainy conditions, the No. 5 Gators (6-3) fell, 16-6, to No. 1 Maryland (7-0) at the University of Maryland Field Hockey and Lacrosse Complex on Saturday.
The defending national champion Terps showed why they are the undisputed top team in the country on Saturday, using a dominating second half to run away from the Gators after a back-and-forth first half.
Florida opened the contest with the game's first goal after senior Shannon Gilroy fought through the Maryland defense to score her team-leading 29th goal of the season.
Maryland scored five of the next seven goals and led 5-3 halfway through the first half until junior Carly Ross and Gilroy scored on back-to-back possessions.
With the scored knotted at 5-5 with 6:04 left in the first, Maryland ended the half on a 4-0 run, including two goals that came with less than 40 seconds on the clock. The run gave the Terps a 9-5 advantage heading into the second half.
The half-ending run proved to be the momentum changer in the game as Florida couldn't regroup in the second half.
The Terps opened the second half winning the draw and ran a five-minute possession netting a goal on a free-position shot. The extended possession set the tone for how the rest of the half would go.
Maryland controlled the ball for nearly the entire second half as Florida had only three offensive possessions the rest of way and was unable to mount a comeback.
Gilroy scored a team-high two goals and junior goalkeeper Mary-Sean Wilcox made eight saves.
Record
· Florida – 6-3
· Maryland – 7-0
Series Update
· This was the first-ever meeting between Florida and Maryland
Numbers of Note
· Florida is in the midst of a two-game losing streak, just the third time in program history that the Gators have ever lost back-to-back games
· Gilroy scored a team-high two goals and now has 30 goals in 2015
· Gilroy needs just 15 more goals to crack the top 25 of the NCAA's all-time goal scoring list
· Gilroy has now scored at least 30 goals in all four years of her career at Florida
· Wilcox's eight saves were just one shy of her season best (nine)
· Thirteen Gators are from the state of Maryland
· Seven starters from today's game are from the state of Maryland (Taylor Bresnahan, Sammi Burgess, Sam Darcangelo, Aniya Flanagan, Lauren Lea, Mollie Stevens and Wilcox)
Mandee's Minute
Head coach Amanda O'Leary
On the first half:
I thought we competed really hard in the first half. I thought we had some good stops defensively and Mary-Sean [Wilcox] had some great saves. Defensively, we were right with them in the first half. We had 15 shots in the first half and that is a good number of opportunities. We were creating opportunities for ourselves, offensively,
On the Terps 4-0 run to end the first half:
Against a team like Maryland, you can't give up three goals in two minutes and 39 seconds to a team like Maryland going into the half. That is a huge deficit to try and pull yourself out of.
Up Next
Florida returns home to Donald R. Dizney Stadium to host No. 18 Stony Brook on Tuesday (March 17) at 6:30 p.m.
For all of the latest information on Florida lacrosse:
Twitter
Facebook
Instagram
