Florida Lacrosse races past Lehigh 18-2

In the midst of their longest undefeated streak to start a season, and a mere five days from traveling to the west coast for the first time as a program, it would have been easy for the No. 2 Florida lacrosse team to look past a 2-3 Lehigh team that seemed to pose almost no threat.

Instead, Florida out ran them, dominating over-matched Lehigh from the outset for an 18-2 victory, its highest scoring game of the early season.

Even with their litany of first half miscues, like mishandled ground balls and botched passes, both mistakes Florida prides itself on avoiding, the Gators were impressive on both sides of the ball. The team forced turnovers with ease and scored 14 first half goals while blanking Lehigh to completely overpower the Mountain Hawks heading into the locker room. All told, Lehigh turned the ball over 20 times, but it was the Gators’ team effort that impressed head coach Amanda O’Leary the most.

The starters rested in their warmups after the break, cheering on the younger subs who performed admirably in keeping the game as far out of reach as possible. Lehigh fought hard in the second half with eight shots on goal, but it wasn’t nearly enough to climb out of the enormous first half hole it dug itself into.

Next up for Florida is a trip to the west coast to take on the 4-1 Oregon Ducks. Opening draw on Saturday is set for 4 p.m. EST, with coverage beginning on ESPN 850/900 starting at 3:50 p.m.