Saturday, February 8
Gainesville, Fla.
10:00 AM
Colorado
0-1
10
at
11
Florida
1-0
1
2
F
Colorado
6
4
10
Florida
6
5
11
Junior Zoe Lawless scored three goals against Florida
Photo by: Dan Madden
Buffaloes Fall Shy Of Upset Against Florida
February 08, 2020 | Lacrosse
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – It was a game that lived up to the billing between a pair of top-20 opponents, but unfortunately the Buffaloes found themselves just short of the win, falling 11-10 to Florida on Saturday.
"Obviously this was a disappointing loss for us," head coach Ann Elliott Whidden said. "I was proud that we were able to keep fighting and keep ourselves in the game. But we hurt ourselves a lot in the first half by undisciplined plays and letting emotions dictate our play, that isn't who we are and that won't happen again. In second half, we did better job of being disciplined emotionally but we just didn't make enough plays."
The Gators (1-0) entered the game ranked 14th and the Buffs (0-1) are 18th in the IWLCA Preseason Poll. This was the second time in as many years that the two have met to start their seasons and both times, UF has come out on top.
Colorado got four goals from junior Sadie Grozier, but another junior, Zoe Lawless, made an impact on offense by scoring three goals in just the fifth game of her career. Sophomore Liz Phillips recorded three assists for CU and led the Buffs with five draw controls. Defensively, senior Julia Lisella made 13 saves while junior Eliza Cahill and senior Anna Collawn each had two caused turnovers.
WHAT HAPPENED: The Buffaloes got on the board early, scoring in transition. The Gators were in the middle of a clear when Cahill caused her first turnover of the game and put CU back on offense. She passed the ball to Liz Phillips, who found Chloe Willard in front of the goal. Willard took the quick shot and gave the Buffs the 1-0 advantage just 1:17 into the game.
Florida tied the game at 22:38, but CU responded with two straight goals, a man-up free-position goal by Charlie Rudy and an even-strength goal from Grozier, to put CU back up 3-1.
That was just the start of what was going to be a 60-minute battle. UF found the back of the net to get within one, but the Buffs answered with the second goal by Grozier and Lawless' first career goal to go up 5-2. The Gators did not back down and recorded three straight markers in the next two minutes, causing Whidden to take a quick timeout at 12:41.
Neither team was able to score in the next 10 minutes, but in that time, Rudy was issued a pair of yellow cards and was forced to exit the game. Shortly after Rudy's second card, Florida converted on its man-up opportunity and took its first lead (6-5) with just under three minutes to play.
With the clock winding down in the half, the Buffs kept attacking and with 0:37 remaining, Lawless tied the game with her second goal of the afternoon. The two teams went into intermission tied up.
Colorado started the second half a man-down as Grozier was charged with CU's fifth yellow card of the game at the end of the first half. The Buffs held off the Gators during those two minutes and Grozier recorded the first two goals of the half.
With CU leading 8-6, Florida struck back with three consecutive goals for a 9-8 advantage. In the back-and-forth contest, the Buffs responded with Audrey Kingdom's first goal of the season with 13:06 left to play.
A little over a minute later, UF retook the lead as the first team to reach 10 goals. Again the Buffs responded and for the third time in the game, it was a goal from Lawless for her first career hat trick.
The Gators converted on their ninth free-position attempt of the game, which put them up 11-10 with just 3:40 left to play. The Buffs had a chance with 30 seconds left but turned the ball over before getting a shot off.
"We have a lot of talent on this team and a lot of potential, but we didn't make the plays when we needed too and Florida did," said Whidden. "That will be a focus moving forward, we need to thrive in those moments and now we understand what those moments are. We have two weeks before we play again and which gives us a lot of time to focus on ourselves and get better."
KEY STATISTICS: The Buffs were issued five yellow cards during the game, which included two against Rudy, causing her to sit out over half of the game. Florida was carded twice during the game. CU also recorded 26 fouls to UF's 13. UF won 17 of 23 draw controls. Most of the other statistics were even. The Gators had the advantage in shots (32-28) and shots on goal (24-21).
NOTABLE:
TEAM LEADERS:
"Obviously this was a disappointing loss for us," head coach Ann Elliott Whidden said. "I was proud that we were able to keep fighting and keep ourselves in the game. But we hurt ourselves a lot in the first half by undisciplined plays and letting emotions dictate our play, that isn't who we are and that won't happen again. In second half, we did better job of being disciplined emotionally but we just didn't make enough plays."
The Gators (1-0) entered the game ranked 14th and the Buffs (0-1) are 18th in the IWLCA Preseason Poll. This was the second time in as many years that the two have met to start their seasons and both times, UF has come out on top.
Colorado got four goals from junior Sadie Grozier, but another junior, Zoe Lawless, made an impact on offense by scoring three goals in just the fifth game of her career. Sophomore Liz Phillips recorded three assists for CU and led the Buffs with five draw controls. Defensively, senior Julia Lisella made 13 saves while junior Eliza Cahill and senior Anna Collawn each had two caused turnovers.
WHAT HAPPENED: The Buffaloes got on the board early, scoring in transition. The Gators were in the middle of a clear when Cahill caused her first turnover of the game and put CU back on offense. She passed the ball to Liz Phillips, who found Chloe Willard in front of the goal. Willard took the quick shot and gave the Buffs the 1-0 advantage just 1:17 into the game.
Florida tied the game at 22:38, but CU responded with two straight goals, a man-up free-position goal by Charlie Rudy and an even-strength goal from Grozier, to put CU back up 3-1.
That was just the start of what was going to be a 60-minute battle. UF found the back of the net to get within one, but the Buffs answered with the second goal by Grozier and Lawless' first career goal to go up 5-2. The Gators did not back down and recorded three straight markers in the next two minutes, causing Whidden to take a quick timeout at 12:41.
Neither team was able to score in the next 10 minutes, but in that time, Rudy was issued a pair of yellow cards and was forced to exit the game. Shortly after Rudy's second card, Florida converted on its man-up opportunity and took its first lead (6-5) with just under three minutes to play.
With the clock winding down in the half, the Buffs kept attacking and with 0:37 remaining, Lawless tied the game with her second goal of the afternoon. The two teams went into intermission tied up.
Colorado started the second half a man-down as Grozier was charged with CU's fifth yellow card of the game at the end of the first half. The Buffs held off the Gators during those two minutes and Grozier recorded the first two goals of the half.
With CU leading 8-6, Florida struck back with three consecutive goals for a 9-8 advantage. In the back-and-forth contest, the Buffs responded with Audrey Kingdom's first goal of the season with 13:06 left to play.
A little over a minute later, UF retook the lead as the first team to reach 10 goals. Again the Buffs responded and for the third time in the game, it was a goal from Lawless for her first career hat trick.
The Gators converted on their ninth free-position attempt of the game, which put them up 11-10 with just 3:40 left to play. The Buffs had a chance with 30 seconds left but turned the ball over before getting a shot off.
"We have a lot of talent on this team and a lot of potential, but we didn't make the plays when we needed too and Florida did," said Whidden. "That will be a focus moving forward, we need to thrive in those moments and now we understand what those moments are. We have two weeks before we play again and which gives us a lot of time to focus on ourselves and get better."
KEY STATISTICS: The Buffs were issued five yellow cards during the game, which included two against Rudy, causing her to sit out over half of the game. Florida was carded twice during the game. CU also recorded 26 fouls to UF's 13. UF won 17 of 23 draw controls. Most of the other statistics were even. The Gators had the advantage in shots (32-28) and shots on goal (24-21).
NOTABLE:
- This was the third straight game against Florida that Julia Lisella has recorded 10 or more saves. In the first meeting (May 13, 2018), she had 11. Then in the 2019 season opener, she made 12 saves. This time she had 13.
- In total, Lisella has made 10 or more saves in 18 games.
- Zoe Lawless recorded the first three goals of her career in this game.
- This was Sadie Grozier's seventh game with three or more goals.
- Also scoring her first career point was sophomore Bailey Hawkins with one assist.
- This is Jen Mistretta's third game with multiple assists (three)
- Florida leads the all-time series 4-0.
TEAM LEADERS:
| Colorado |
| Points: 16 |
| Goals: 10 |
| Assists: 6 |
| Draw Controls: 6 |
| Ground Balls: 19 |
| Saves: 13 |
| Florida |
| Points: 17 |
| Goals: 11 |
| Assists: 6 |
| Draw Controls: 17 |
| Ground Balls: 17 |
| Saves: 1 |
UP NEXT: Colorado will play its home opener next, February 21, against Harvard at Kittredge Field. Opening draw is slated for 4 p.m.
Team Stats
COLO
UF
Shots
28
32
Turnovers
11
14
Caused Turnovers
9
8
Draw Controls
6
17
Free-Position Shots
6
11
Ground Balls
19
17
Game Leaders
Players
G
4
A
0
FO
-
Pen
-
GB
0
CT
0
G
3
A
0
FO
-
Pen
-
GB
0
CT
0
G
1
A
0
FO
-
Pen
-
GB
1
CT
1
G
1
A
0
FO
-
Pen
-
GB
2
CT
1
Players Mentioned
D
/ Lacrosse
M
/ LacrosseA
/ Lacrosse
M
/ LacrosseM
/ LacrosseA
/ Lacrosse
G
/ Lacrosse
M
/ Lacrosse
M
/ LacrosseA
/ Lacrosse
A
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