Buffs Fall To Fifth-Ranked Gators 16-9

Sunday, February 11

Gainesville, FL

10:00 AM

Colorado

1-1

Florida

1-0

Colorado

Florida

Junior attacker Sophia Castillo scored a goal on Sunday against Florida

Photo by: Fred Wilson

February 11, 2018 | Lacrosse

Box Score PDF Boxscore

By: Tommy Henderson, Student Assistant SID

GAINSEVILLE, Fla. – Colorado battled hard against the fifth-ranked Gators, but Florida scored six consecutive goals in the second half to down the 17th-ranked Buffs by a final score of 16-9 on Sunday afternoon.

WHAT HAPPENED: Florida came out on the offensive, scoring the game's first goal 37 seconds into the contest, but the Buffs settled in and Carly Cox tied the game up 1-1 with a tip-in goal at the 25:29 mark of the first half. The teams went back and forth early in the first half, with Sophia Castillo evening the score at 5-5 with 16:39 remaining in the first half. Florida ended the half with three unanswered goals to take an 8-5 halftime lead.

CU won the opening half draw to start the second half, but the Gators quickly pressured CU into a turnover and retook possession. A pair of saves from Sophia Gambitsky in the first two minutes of the second half helped the Buffs weather Florida's initial attack. Then at the 22:27 mark, Cox put CU on the board first in the second half, drawing the score to 8-6, but Florida answered back just 14 seconds later to retake a three-goal lead.

The Buffs brought the score back within two on a free-position goal from Samantha Nemirov. Kelsie Garrison forced a Florida turnover on the ensuing possession and freshman Devon Bayer capitalized on a free-position attempt to bring the score to 9-8 with 18:21 remaining in the game, but that was the closest the game would get.

Florida responded with a pair of quick goals to extend its lead to 11-8 with 15:29 to play. Then five minutes later, Madi Hall and Lindsey Ronbeck scored within a minutes of each other again to stretch the Gators' lead to 13-8. Darby Kiernan was issued a yellow card on the ensuing draw control, and Florida scored again to take a six-goal lead with 9:53 to play.

Down six, Colorado called timeout and came out re-energized, but it was too late. Florida scored again before another goal from Bayer stopped the Gators' run with 5:46 to play in the game. The game was a defensive stalemate in the final five minutes, with the Gators scoring in the final minute to win by a final score of 16-9.

DEFENSE: The Buffs' defense held strong for over 40-minutes before Florida's onslaught put the game out of reach. Senior Kelsie Garrison led the way defensively for Colorado, collecting five ground balls and forcing three turnovers. Goalie Sophia Gambitsky also had a career-high five ground balls.

KEY STATISTICS: Colorado outshot Florida by a final tally of 34-28, but Florida goalie Hayley Hicklen stifled the Buffs', recording a career-high 14 saves. CU held a narrow edge in nearly every statistical category, winning the ground ball battle (28-25), the turnover battle (16-17), and leading the Gators in draw controls (14-13).

NOTABLE:

CU never led in the game, but tied the score four times (all in the first half)
This was the first meeting between the two school
CU falls to 41-7 all-time when taking more shots than their opponent
This is the first time CU has given up more than 15 goals since last season's MPSF championship against USC; the Buffs are 0-9 all-time in games in which they have conceded 15+ goals.
This is the first time this season CU has been held under 10 goals; the Buffs are 5-19 all-time when being held under double-digits.
All nine Colorado goals came unassisted or on free-position attempts.
Devon Bayer scored her first collegiate goal, coming on a free-position attempt with 18:21 remaining in the game
Sophia Gambitsky tied her career-high with seven saves and set a career-high with five ground balls.
Samantha Nemirov's two goals ties a career-high

TEAM LEADERS:

Colorado
Points: 9
Goals: 9
Assists: 0
Draw Controls: 14
Ground Balls: 28
Turnovers: 16
Saves: 7

Florida
Points: 24
Goals: 16 Assists: 8
Draw Controls: 13
Ground Balls: 25
Turnovers: 17
Saves: 14

UP NEXT: Colorado will head to Evanston, Ill. to face No. 9 Northwestern on Thursday, February, 15 at 2 p.m. (MT).

QUOTEABLE:
Head Coach Ann Elliott
On whether she was pleased with the way her team competed despite the loss:
"I'm pleased in some parts and not in other parts. I think we have a long way to go to get to where we need to be to compete with top-10 teams. We have a quick turnaround to get ready for Northwestern and we have to get better. We have to get better at executing, we have to get better at everybody being ready to play and to step up in their role and I don't think we did that today."

On any positives to build on facing another top-10 opponent in Northwestern on Thursday:
"I think the positive is we went out there and played a great team in Florida, and at the end of the day it's going to prepare us for the rest of our season and it's going to prepare us for Thursday. We have a lot of players who haven't played (in a game like this) before, and hopefully now they understand what it's like to compete at this level. We can't rely on two, three, four people; we all need to have a fearless attitude and go out there and make plays in our roles. I think this was our first real test of that, and hopefully it gets us prepared for Thursday."

On Florida's efforts to honor to Julia Sarcona's life
"Obviously Florida has been incredible. They've been deeply affected by the loss of Julia like us. It was great to be able to play this game and honor Julia, we really appreciate everything that they've done and I know our girls do to."