Florida Gators

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- A spirited crowd of 1,015 braved early afternoon rain showers Saturday in Gainesville to see the nation's top two lacrosse teams go head-to-head at Donald R. Dizney Stadium. The No. 1 Terrapins earned a 14-4 decision over the No. 2 Gators, improving to 6-0 on the season, while Florida (9-1) shouldered just its first loss of the 2016 campaign.
 
The nation's No. 1 and No. 2 ranked freshmen players in Gators Sydney Pirreca and Lindsey Ronbeck led the Orange and Blue with three goals and four points combined. Redshirt senior Nicole Graziano found the back of the net to account for Florida's fourth score and three of UF's five draw controls.
 
Maryland jumped out to a 2-0 lead, but the Gators quickly countered with two Ronbeck goals for a tie game with 10:10 remaining in the first period. The Terps added two scores in the final 5:31 in the first for a 4-2 lead at the half -- the Gators' first halftime deficit all season.
 
A quick second-half goal from Graziano out of the locker room to bring the Gators within one, 4-3, was quickly negated by an eight-goal splurge from Maryland to extend the Terps' lead to 12-3 with 11:47 remaining in the game. Pirreca put a halt to the run with 8:50 left for a 12-4 game, but it was too little, too late for the Gators. The Terrapins added two more goals for the 14-4 final.
 
Maryland won 15 draw controls compared to Florida's five, and took advantage of seven free-position shots, cashing in on four of them. Caroline Wannen led the Terps with four goals and seven points on the afternoon. The Gators moved to an even 4-4 all-time against the defending national champion and 2-3 against No. 1 opponents. Maryland is one of three undefeated teams in the country, with USC and Cornell still unscathed as well.
 
THE RECORDS
No. 2 Florida: 9-1
No. 1 Maryland: 6-0
 
NUMBERS OF NOTE

O'LEARY ANALYSIS
"Today is a great learning experience, and you need to grow from losses. We'll go back and watch film, but they know what their mistakes were and where we need to get better. Ultimately we need to get back here Monday ready to work. Lots of things to be learned from this."
 
"Taylor Cummings is a Tewaaraton Finalist for a reason. She did a great job on the draw. There are 50/50 balls, and I think we got out-hustled. It's something we need to fix. It's really a point of emphasis for us moving forward. We're going to run into players that are really good and we just have to compete a little harder. "
 
UP NEXT
The Gators will turn their sights to the March 26 clash with Vanderbilt, which will kick off the BIG EAST schedule for the Orange and Blue. Opening draw between the Gators and Commodores will be noon at The Diz, and the match-up will stream live on SEC Network +.
 
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