In a much tighter game than the score indicated, the Stony Brook Women’s Lacrosse team fell to the Florida Gators 14-1.
Coach Joe Spallina’s young team came off a strong win against Drexel to play one of the top teams in the country in Florida in front of a loud Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium crowd.
The 5/7 ranked Gators were on their heels in the early going, holding off a long Stony Brook possession in the offensive zone. Freshman Dorrien Van Dyke led the charge up the middle after taking the opening faceoff, threading the middle of the attack zone. After about three minutes, Florida got a good clear to set the tone for the rest of the game.
Over and over again, Stony Brook would patiently hold the ball and play catch behind the net, only to be disappointed when goalie Cara Canington made a great save. She had 11 saves to keep Stony Brook from hanging on against a very strong offensive team in Florida.
Only having lost to the top team in the country in North Carolina, Florida started the running clock with just over 10 minutes left in the second half when Shannon Gilroy scored to make it 11-1.
The Seawolves did a good job possessing the ball when they got into Florida’s side of the field, but were not able to attack the net as often as coach Spallina would have liked.
Coach Spallina said, “It was disappointing offensively,” mentioning that although the scoreboard said one thing, “it really wasn’t that kind of game. We had opportunities to change the momentum of the game and we didn’t do that.”
The only Seawolf to get on the scoreboard in this one was junior captain Michelle Rubino. After a penalty was called on Florida at 19:53 of the first half, Rubino took advantage, beating Florida’s Canington to knot things up at 19:49.
Stony Brook senior goalkeeper Frankie Caridi did not have her best performance, as she had six saves on the afternoon for a 30 percent save percentage.
Moving forward, there still are positives from both this game and the team’s recent loss to Notre Dame that can be kept in the back of the mind.
Coach Spallina said, “If you don’t learn from every chance you have, then you’re not getting better. We’ll have to take the positives out of this and improve, and we’ll be better.”
Stony Brook will head to New Jersey to look to get back on track next Saturday at 11 a.m. against Rutgers.
