GAINESVILLE, Fla. – On a cold evening, senior Shannon Gilroy continued her hot pursuit to become the Gators' all-time leading scorer during No. 4 Florida's (3-1) 17-7 victory over San Diego State (0-1) on Friday night at Donald R. Dizney Stadium.
The All-American midfielder, who battled swollen tonsils last week, tied a season-high with five goals and moved within eight goals of the all-time mark.
Just as they did in their previous game, the Gators ran out to a fast start, scoring nine goals in under 10 minutes, and entered halftime with a commanding 13-3 advantage.
With a number of reserves seeing playing time in the second half, the Gators took the throttle off the gas and switched to their possession-based offense in the second stanza, using their 10-goal advantage and a running clock to quickly finish off the Aztecs and escape the near-freezing playing conditions.
Freshman Shayna Pirreca came off the bench and had a career-high four goals on five shots. Five other Gators scored goals in the home win and sophomore Sammi Burgess tied a season-best with three assists. Junior goalkeeper Mary-Sean Wilcox moved to 3-1 and finished with six saves before giving way to backup goalie freshman Olivia Cole at the 12:36 mark.
Record
· Florida – 3-1
· San Diego State – 0-1
Series Update
· Tonight's game was the first ever meeting between the two schools
Numbers of Note
· The Gators moved to 2-0 this season in night games
· In its three wins this season, Florida has outscored its opponents, 55-15
· Sophomore Lauren Lea tallied two goals and now has 50 points in her career
· Sophomore Mollie Stevens added two scores and has the second-most goals scored (11) on the squad
· Shannon Gilroy scored five goals and now has 196 in her career, just eight shy of becoming UF's all-time leading goal scorer. Kitty Cullen (2010-13) holds the all-time mark with 203
· Before San Diego State scored its first goal of the game at the 18:07 mark in the first, the Gator defense had gone 72 minutes and eight seconds without allowing a goal, a streak that spanned three games (Jacksonville, Michigan and San Diego State)
· Sophomore Sammi Burgess tied a season-high with three assists
· Freshman Shayna Pirreca recorded her first multi-goal game of her young career, netting four scores
· Redshirt junior Nicole Graziano finished with two scores and has scored multiple goals in every game this season
Mandee's Minute
Head coach Amanda O'Leary
On tonight's win:
“I thought we came out and competed really, really well. I'm really impressed with Shannon [Gilroy] tonight. I thought she had one of the best games I've seen her play all season. Defensively we came up big. We made some undisciplined fouls, but I thought we cleaned it up and overall and I am just super pleased with our offensive performance.”
On the team's progression at this point in the season:
I couldn't be more pleased with their effort tonight. [It] was a little cold out there, so that was a challenge for them, but otherwise I thought they did a good job on the 50-50 ground balls. It's something we've been working on. I'm really pleased with where they are right now.”
Up Next
Florida hosts Dartmouth (0-0) next Saturday (Feb. 28) at 1:00 p.m. at Donald R. Dizney Stadium
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