Gators Lacrosse looking to make it six straight in Cincinnati

The 10th ranked Florida Gators Lacrosse team travels to face the Cincinnati Bearcats in AAC play on Sunday at 11 a.m. est. 

Hot streak for the Gators

The Gators Lacrosse team enters this weekend’s matchup with a record of 7-4 (.636). The team’s only losses have come to top-10 ranked teams in North Carolina, Maryland, Stony Brook and Loyola. While two of these losses came on the road, the other four games away from home have been wins.

Florida is led by Freshman Emma LoPinto who has already tallied five hat-tricks this season. Sophomore Maggi Hall trails LoPinto with four.

Scoring can come from all players on the Gators and the team’s strength of play makes them a real threat. The team puts up 29.3 shots a game with .783 shots on goal percentage.

Coach O’Leary had this to say about the team: “Once again impressed with the growth we have seen out of this team…they continue to improve on both ends of the field…”

Cincinnati picking up momentum 

Cincinnati has never notched a win against a ranked opponent in their time as a varsity collegiate sport and are hoping to shock the college lacrosse world on Sunday.

The Bearcats enter the game with a 6-6 record (.500). However, five of those six wins have come away from the queen city. Cincy seems to have taken a step up from last season by only being one win shy of their 2021 total.

Attack duo Kylie Nause and Ava Goeller have been hot for the Bearcats with 45 and 35 goals respectively. The team averages two more shots a game than the gators while still holding a .739 shot on target percentage.

On defense, the team has been clicking into gear as they forced a season-high 15 turnovers on defense in last week’s matchup.

Elite company. 🥵@KylieNause is also only two goals away from second in single-season school history! pic.twitter.com/ncyT5SsE1R

— Cincinnati Lacrosse (@GoBearcatsLAX) March 29, 2022

The Matchup

Florida has historically dominated the Bearcats with a 10-o record all time. The Gators convincingly won all three of their meetings last year (20-3, 19-5, and 19-6).

Even if the Bearcats are heating up, I expect the Gators to win comfortably here. Their talent and elevated strength of schedule will leave them better prepared to come out with a W.

You can catch Sunday’s showdown at 11 a.m. on ESPN+.