April 7, 2012

Box Score

BALTIMORE, MD - Florida's Nora Barry completed her hat trick with 58 seconds gone in the second overtime period to lift the fifth-ranked Gators to a 13-12 win over host Johns Hopkins Saturday afternoon in American Lacrosse Conference (ALC) action at Homewood Field. The Blue Jays suffer their second straight loss as they fall to 7-4 overall and 0-2 in the ALC. The Gators meanwhile, extend their overall win streak to nine and their conference win streak to eight as UF is now 13-2 on the season and 3-0 in the ALC.

Hopkins led early but later rallied from a four-goal deficit to score to tie the game before scoring the go-ahead goal with just 1:13 to play. But Florida would score with just seven ticks left in regulation to force overtime. The teams traded goals in the first overtime period before the Gators had the final say 66:58 into the contest.

Senior Colleen McCaffrey put the Blue Jays on the board early after a nifty spin move on the right goal line extended, snuck a tough-angled shot past Mickey Meagher at 28:35. Just 42 seconds later, Kitty Cullen, who had missed the last two games, knotted the game with a free position goal. Hopkins answered with back-to-back goals to take a 3-1 lead just over five minutes in. Sophomore Taylor D'Amore put the Blue Jays back on top with a goal off a right alley dodge before McCaffrey dodged the middle, spun around a defender and buried a left-handed shot at 24:27.

Shannon Gilroy cuts the deficit to one, taking a feed in the slot from Ashley Bruns and firing it past freshman KC Emerson at 16:00. Less than two minutes later, senior Candace Rossi scored off a great heads up play. She fired a shot from the high slot and Meagher was there for the save, but couldn't control the rebound. Rossi, following up her shot, scooped up the loose ball, tiptoed along the crease before going high-to-low on Meagher to make it 4-2 Hopkins. Barry once again cut it to one as the Gators capitalized on a failed Blue Jay clear. Emerson made came up with a save on a Nicole Graziano shot, but on the clear, the ball took a funny angle out of Emerson's stick. Graziano bounced on the loose ball and found Barry open in transition for the goal.

The Blue Jays came right back off the draw, pushing their lead back to two. D'Amore controlled the draw and took off into the offensive end. As she drew a pair of defenders, D'Amore found classmate Sarah Taylor trailing on the right side. Taylor took the pass and rifled a shot home to make it 5-3 Hopkins. The Gators would answer with three straight to take a 6-5 lead into the half. Brittany Dashiell got things going with a nice pass from Graziano, she turned and scored in the slot. Just 20 seconds later, Gilroy cutting down the middle, took a feed from Dashiell and scored to tie the game at five apiece. Cullen would send the visitors into the locker room with the lead when she dodged left to right across the fan and scored to give Florida its first lead of the game at 6:28.

The play was a much slower pace in the opening 12 minutes of the second half with a pair of yellow cards, several saves and a couple of shots off the post mixed in. It was the Gators that would end the drought and with emphasis as they scored three goals in a span of 77 seconds to push out to a four-goal lead. Haydon Judge intercepted an Emerson pass, after a save on Dashiell, and fed the ball to Bruns who was open in the slot. She scored on a low shot to the right corner. Cullen followed with a strike off a right-alley dodge before Barry capped the spurt with a free position goal at 16:00.

Hopkins called timeout to try and stem the tide and it worked. On the ensuing draw, Rossi came up with the ball and took it all the way to the cage where she buried a side-arm shot. The goal came just six seconds after Barry's and tied an NCAA record. The goal also halted Florida's 6-0 run and ended Hopkins' scoring drought of 27:24. McCaffrey and junior Monica Fischer followed with goals that would bring the Blue Jays within one. From the top of the fan, D'Amore dumped the ball down low to McCaffrey, who cradled once and scored on a high shot, for her fourth straight game with a hat trick. D'Amore then connected with Fischer on a similar play and Hopkins trailed by just one with 10:53 to play.

Graziano pushed Florida's lead back to two when she intercepted a pass on a Hopkins' clear and scored to make it 10-8 at 7:10. Hopkins answered with three straight goals to go up 11-10 with just 1:13 to play. D'Amore made it a one-goal game at 5:55 on a dodge across the fan before sneaking a tough shot in traffic past Meagher. Fifty-one seconds later, D'Amore found sophomore Sammy Cermack cutting down the middle for a quick strike and the teams were tied at 10 apiece. Rossi won the ensuing draw and the Blue Jays ran a settled offense to run time of the clock. Rossi finally went to the cage, with a nice inside roll and buried a low shot to put Hopkins on top.

Gilroy won the draw for Florida and brought it into the offensive end where eventually Cullen earned a free position shot. She scored to tie the game at 34 seconds, but the goal was waved off after a stick check that ruled her stick illegal. The Blue Jays got the ball back, but an errant pass on the clear was picked off by Jamie Reeg and the Gators took over. Gabi Wiegand drew an eight-meter and converted with just seven ticks left to force overtime.

Hopkins struck first in the extra stanza when looking to dodge, D'Amore drew the defense and found Cermack, who avoided a late slide before rifling home her second of the game with 3:34 to play in the first overtime. Cullen would tie the game again with her fourth of the afternoon just 29 seconds later. Dashiell had a chance with time winding down but Emerson came up with a save. A free position was awarded however, but Dashiell's shot was high and time expired to force sudden-victory overtime.

Hopkins won the draw to open the second overtime period but Sally Jentis forced a turnover at the restraining line and to give Florida possession. Barry would draw a free position shot and scored to give the Gators the win and their first overtime victory in program history.

D'Amore led all scorers with a career-high seven points and five assists and she also had four draws. The seven points give the sophomore 96 for her career, leaving her just four points shy of the century mark. McCaffrey and Rossi both notched hat trick, with Rossi also controlling five draws. Cullen led the Gators with four goals, while Barry had three and Gilroy finished with two. Gilroy and Dashiell each had a team-high four draws. Emerson and Meagher finished with nine saves apiece in the nearly 67 minutes of action.

Hopkins to action in just four days as the Blue Jays host seventh-ranked Virginia on Wednesday, April 11. The game, which will be televised by ESPNU, is set for a 5:34 first draw.