No. 3 Florida Downs No. 10 Stony Brook, 7-6
Senior Nicole Graziano had a season-high four goals, five points and five draw controls Sunday.
Photo By: Frank Fumelli
Sunday, March 6, 2016

No. 3 Florida Downs No. 10 Stony Brook, 7-6

Kelly Sobers
No. 3 Florida picked up its fourth top-10 win of the season Sunday on the road at No. 10 Stony Brook to stay undefeated at 7-0.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Fifth-year senior Nicole Graziano stepped up big for the Orange and Blue with four goals, an assist, five draw controls and two caused turnovers as the No. 3 Gators edged No. 10 Stony Brook, 7-6, at LaValle Stadium Sunday afternoon. Florida improved to 7-0 on the season with its third top-10 win on the road and fourth ranked win of the season.
 
Graziano, the reigning BIG EAST Midfielder of the Week, made a case for weekly honors yet again with season highs in goals (4), points (5) and draw controls (5) against Stony Brook. In the cage, senior Mary-Sean Wilcox went the distance for Florida to improve to 7-0 on the season with eight saves. Wilcox has eight or more saves in all three of UF's top-10 road wins.
 
Florida was dominating in the draw circle, taking 11 draws compared to Stony Brook's two.
 
Junior Mollie Stevens put the Gators on the board first at the 26:38 mark of the first period, but the Seawolves countered with two straight scores for the 2-1 lead before Graziano took over with four unanswered scores for the 5-2 lead at the half.
 
The Seawolves slowly chipped away at the Gators lead to tie the game 5-5 at the 14:19 mark in the second period on a man-up, free-position goal, but junior attack Sammi Burgess got one right back for Florida after being fed by Graziano with 14:07 on the clock. Junior defender Taylor Bresnahan followed with her third defensive goal of the season for the 7-5 Florida lead before Stony Brook countered with 9:35 on the clock to narrow UF's lead, 7-6.
 
Stony Brook took the lone shot in the last nine minutes of play with 1:08 on the clock, and Wilcox came up huge yet again to solidify Florida's seventh win of the season.
 
The Gators now return home to the Sunshine State for a five-game home stand after snapping Stony Brook's five-game home-opener winning streak with Sunday's victory.
 
THE RECORDS
No. 3 Florida: 7-0
No. 10 Stony Brook: 1-1
 
NUMBERS OF NOTE
  • 31: straight games with a goal for junior Mollie Stevens, who has scored in every game she has played in dating back to May 2, 2014
  • 13: straight games with at least one save for senior goalkeeper Mary-Sean Wilcox, who had eight against the Seawolves
  • 11: consecutive games with a point for junior Sammi Burgess, who scored Florida's sixth goal of the game
  • 8: days, four games and four wins for Florida over Spring Break
  • 6: defensive goals for Florida in seven games, as junior Taylor Bresnahan took her third of the season to the house against Stony Brook for the game winner
  • 4: road wins for the Gators in 2016 so far, three of which are top-10 wins
  • 4: all-time wins now for the Gators over the Seawolves, as Florida owns the all-time lead in the history of the series with Stony Brook, 4-1, including their second win in Stony Brook territory
O'LEARY ANALYSIS
"This was a hard-fought win. Nicole (Graziano) did a great job today playing a complete game: offensively, defensively and on the draw. We've played four games in the last eight days… and we came out with four wins. It's been a tough stretch. We're looking forward to being at home in Gainesville for the next couple of weeks."
 
UP NEXT
Next up, the Orange and Blue will enjoy a nice five-game home stand in the Sunshine State. The Gators will host No. 14 Boston College (3/11), No. 20 Towson (3/14), No. 1 Maryland (3/19), Vanderbilt (3/26) and Temple (4/2) before their next road swing to Georgetown April 9.
 
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