No. 5 Florida Lacrosse Suffers First Home Defeat Since 2023

The No. 5 Florida Gators lacrosse team fell 14-9 Saturday to the No. 3 North Carolina Tar Heels in front of 1,273, the third largest crowd at Donald R. Dizney Stadium.

“UNC is a different beast,” UF coach Amanda O’Leary said Thursday. “They’re just a program that’s from top to bottom, they’re some of the best players in the country.”

The Gators’ defense struggled to contain shots behind the sticks of UNC’s sister attackers, redshirt freshman Chloe Humphrey and graduate student Ashley Humphrey. Chloe set the tone of the game, scoring the first goal for the Tar Heels (3-0) just three minutes in. She ended the day with a team-high five points off seven shots, while Ashley trailed with three goals off six shots and tallied a team-high six assists. 

Meanwhile, Florida (2-1) was led by junior attacker Gianna Monaco, who scored three points off seven shots. Her performance puts her first in goals scored for the Gators this season with eight. 

Gianna weaves her way through traffic for her third of the day

📺ESPN+#FLax | #GoGators pic.twitter.com/6H0sUCyUx4

— Gators Lacrosse (@GatorsLAX) February 15, 2025

Four other Gators contributed to the scoring column, with junior midfielder Kaitlyn Davies and senior midfielder Josie Hahn scoring two points each, while freshman midfielder Gabby Greene and junior attacker Ava Tighe each contributed one.

Redshirt freshman attacker Frannie Hahn also led in assists with four, making her the team leader in total assists with seven. 

Kaitlyn gets her second off Frannie's fourth assist of the day 🤝

Q3 | Florida 5, UNC 7#FLax | #GoGators pic.twitter.com/6ySRusW6CX

— Gators Lacrosse (@GatorsLAX) February 15, 2025

Moreover, freshman attacker Clark Hamilton, who led the Gators in scoring against Kennesaw State last Sunday, did not find the back of the net off her three shots. Junior defender Theresa Bragg, who earned Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week on Tuesday and leads Florida with eight ground balls this season, posted just one ground ball.

The Tar Heels only had one turnover over the Gators, 15-14. However, North Carolina posted five more draw controls than Florida (15-10) and outshot them 31-28 by the end of the game, the Gators’ first home defeat since 2023

Although Florida cut North Carolina’s lead to one point in the second quarter, the Tar Heels’ defense remained strong and their offense was relentless in scoring. 

UNC sophomore goalkeeper Betty Nelson recorded eight saves compared to UF graduate student goalkeeper Georgia Hoey’s four. UF redshirt junior goalkeeper Elyse Finnelle substituted in after North Carolina’s 10th goal and made four saves to close the game. 

By halftime, Florida was down 7-4. Although both teams executed 14 shots in the first half, the Tar Heels had 11 on goal compared to the Gators’ nine. 

North Carolina continued to dominate into the second half, adding seven more goals compared to Florida’s five. 

When the Tar Heels scored three consecutive goals at the end of the third quarter, the Gators were forced to call a timeout. Still, North Carolina persisted and acquired a big lead at 11-6 to head into the final quarter. 

Even with the Gators matching the Tar Heels with three goals in the last quarter, the game was too far out of reach. Florida lost its first game of the season against a top-five team and the loss extended the Tar Heel’s lead in the all-time series to 14-4. 

“This is just a team that’s super locked in … every day [they] come in with a purpose,” O’Leary said. “I think we’re developing not only from the starters but also from our bench players.”

Up Next

The Gators hit the road to take on the University of South Florida on Tuesday at 6 p.m.