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Well, Florida isn’t ranked #3 in the country for nothing, guys.
The Gators came to Milwaukee on Wednesday afternoon and shredded Marquette women’s lacrosse, winning by a final score of 21-7. Nine different UF players scored, and four of them recorded hat tricks as Florida moves to 4-0 in Big East action and Marquette drops to 4-8 overall and 2-2 in league play.
A solid first 10 minutes for Marquette (it was tied 1-1!) quickly unraveled in the next 10 minutes. Florida went on a 7-0 to blow the game wide open before Julianna Shearer broke the run with an MU goal at the 10:08 mark of the first half. MU would actually score three in a row of their own to make it an 8-4 game, but Mollie Stevens and Lindsey Ronbeck both scored in the final 30 seconds before halftime to make it a six goal game at the break.
The Stevens and Ronbeck markers were the first two tallies in a 9-0 run that officially ended the competitive portion of the game. It wasn’t so much the unanswered goals that really doomed Marquette, it was the running clock kicking in at 14-4 with 27:33 left in the game and Florida still crashing home three more goals over the next 4+ real-time minutes.
It was a one-sided contest no matter how you look at it. Florida got the win on the scoreboard, in shots, ground balls, draw controls, clears, free position goals, you name it. A clear line was drawn between wherever Marquette is right now as a team and where the Gators are.
Although, I have to admit, I am really looking forward to seeing the score in the Florida/Villanova game. If MU can beat the Wildcats by 14, and Florida can beat the Golden Eagles by 14..... hmmmmm.......
Julianna Shearer finished with a hat trick to extend her program record for goals in a career a little bit further out to 95. With 35 goals on the season, she’s just one away from tying her own record for goals in a season, too. In the preview of this game, we thought that Fran Meyer would need a big game for Marquette to have a chance. Well, that was half right. Meyer finished with three ground balls, two draw controls, and two caused turnovers in a solid individual defensive performance that will largely go unnoticed thanks to the lopsided final score.
Up Next: Things only get marginally easier for Marquette next time out. They’ll be in the Rocky Mountains on Saturday to visit Denver. It’ll be the first ever conference game between the two squads, with the Pioneers coming in with a 3-1 Big East record, a 9-2 overall record, and a national ranking of #13.