GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The fifth-ranked Florida lacrosse team (1-0, 0-0 Big 12) welcomes in Kennesaw State (0-1, 0-0 Atlantic Sun) for their home opener on Sunday at 11 a.m. Fans in attendance will receive a 2025 schedule poster and magnet.
The Gators are coming off an electric opening game road win, as they defeated No. 11 Johns Hopkins 12-11 yesterday afternoon. UF trailed by as many as two goals three different times, but
Gianna Monaco broke the ice of an 11-11 game, scoring the game winner with 17 seconds left to push Florida past the Blue Jays. Eight different players scored in the win. Kennesaw State is coming off a 19-6 loss to USF on Friday night.
Florida leads the all-time series over the Owls 3-0, winning each game by an average of 14.3 goals per game. The two teams have not met since the first game of the 2022 season, when the Gators defeated the Owls 22-7 in Gainesville. Current Gator seniors
Celeste Forte (one goal, one assist) and
Brie Catts (one goal) tallied their first career collegiate points in their Florida debuts in the win.
Home Sweet Home
The Orange and Blue owned an 8-0 record at Donald R. Dizney Stadium in 2024, outscoring opponents by an average of 14.9 goals per game. Overall Florida has won 16 consecutive regular season home games and have an all-time 134-23 (.853) record in Gainesville.
KD Does it All
Junior midfielder
Kaitlyn Davies tied a career high three goals in the season opener against Johns Hopkins, along with a ground ball and a draw control. Davies came to the program as a midfielder in 2023, before pivoting to defense in 2024 and returning back to midfield in 2025. The 2024 All-South Region second team selection as a defender has the opportunity to leave her mark on both ends of the field this season.
Newcomer Impact
Nine of the Gators 18 points in their season opener came from players making their Florida debuts. Graduate transfers
Jordan Basso (two goals, one assist) and
Jenny Markey (two goals) combined for five points in the win. It was Markey's first point since the 2023 season, as she missed all of last year due to injury. Basso now has 71 career collegiate multi-point games.
Redshirt freshman
Frannie Hahn (one goal, two assists) and true fresman
Clark Hamilton (one goal) each recorded their first collegiate goals and points in the win. Hamilton scored the game tying goal yesterday with 2:42 remaining in the fourth quarter, becoming the first African American lacrosse player to score a goal in program history.
Monaco in the Clutch
Junior
Gianna Monaco scored the game winning goal with 17 seconds remaining in the season opener. She tallied a goal and an assist in the win, now recording a point in 18 consecutive games that she's appeared in. The Gators have a flair for the dramatic in the state of Maryland, after they won a thrilling 13-12 game in overtime at College Park last season.
Georgia and the Defense Showed Out
Goalkeeper
Georgia Hoey totaled a career high 10 saves against Johns Hopkins, holding the Blue Jays to 11 goals on 37 shots. Hoey made multiple show-stopping saves to keep her team in the game, along with the back line of
Theresa Bragg,
Ashley Dyer,
Celeste Forte and
Sam Hughes, who were able to make things difficult all day for the Blue Jays. They held Hopkins leading scorer from a year ago, Ava Angello to two goals on nine shots (22.2%).
Key Notes
- The Gators own an 11-4 record all-time in-home openers
- Florida controls a 26-1 record all-time against the Atlantic Sun Conference
- UF averaged 19.4 goals per game at home a year ago
- Ashley Dyer has had two or more ground balls in three consecutive games
- Theresa Bragg has had two or more ground balls in her last four games and is averaging 3.5 caused turnovers per game over her last two
Active Streaks
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