Gators Head to UConn Not Reflecting on UConn
Wednesday, April 29, 2015 | Lacrosse
By Alexandrea DaCosta
Special to GatorZone.com
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The crumble in Connecticut started in the second half.
Florida had a fat seven-goal lead on UConn at intermission when the two teams last met April 18 at Storrs, Conn. After the break, the Huskies scored six straight goals to cut the margin to one, then eventually overtook the Gators late for a shocking 11-10 win that ended UF's 15-game winning streak in Big East Conference play that's been eating at the team the last two weeks.
“I think it was a reality check,” senior midfielder Nora Barry said.
Maybe the shakeup came at just the right time. As it turns out, the Gators are heading back to the very site of that very collapse for this week's Big East Conference Tournament at Sherman Family Sports Complex. Despite that crushing first loss, the 11th-ranked Gators (12-5) go into the tournament as the field's top seed and face fourth-seeded Villanova (9-7) Thursday at 4:30 p.m.
Florida whipped the Wildcats 21-3 when the two teams met April 11 at Gainesville, but the Gators won't emphasize that moment in their past win anymore than they will the recent defeat. They're looking ahead, not back.
“It's heart, competitiveness and grind,” Coach Amanda O'Leary said of the task ahead.
The UF coaches, Barry said, have tried to create an intense atmosphere of a regular game during practice since the UConn game. She said that everything has been fast-paced and the team is hoping to show how much they've improved in the past week.
Sophomore attack Mollie Stevens explained that the message the coaches are giving them is to work harder.
“We've had really difficult practices,” she said. “Basically learning better discipline, and I think we've done a good job with that.”
The Gators came out fast against UConn, but they didn't finish that way. O'Leary wants the team to not just hit the ground running, but maintain its tempo throughout the game.
Maybe just being back at the scene of the crime will help.
“I think now that we've been there and we've played on the field, we know what it's going to be like and we know the atmosphere and the environment,” Gilroy said.
They also know the opposition, which wasn't necessarily the case when the season began. After five years in the American Lacrosse Conference -- and four regular season titles, plus a couple tournament crowns -- the Gators moved into the Big East after the ALC disbanded last offseason. The Gators want to carry over their run of lacrosse success, hopefully taking it with them into the NCAA Tournament.
“Different conference, different competition,” O'Leary said. “But ultimately, the same goals.”
The first goal is to beat Villanova and earn a date with either Georgetown (7-9) or UConn (10-6) in the tournament final.
Care to guess who the Gators would rather play?
