Monaco’s Overtime Goal Secures Fifth Straight Win For Florida Lacrosse

With five seconds remaining of the match, Gianna Monaco scored the game-winning goal to secure the No. 7 Florida lacrosse team’s fourth comeback victory of the season.

The junior attacker scooped up a loose ground ball and shot it past UPenn freshman goalkeeper Orly Sedransk to secure the Gators a 13-12 overtime victory against No. 15 Penn (4-3) on Wednesday afternoon in Philadelphia, marking Florida’s fifth consecutive win.

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Monaco achieved her second game-winning goal of the season since her game-winner against Johns Hopkins (7-2) on Feb. 7 with 17 seconds remaining in UF’s first game.

UF junior midfielder Kaitlyn Davies’ free-position shot with 15 seconds remaining opened the door for victory. She drove the ball in and tied the game at 12-12, bringing the game into overtime.

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In Florida’s first game in extended time, Penn won the opening draw control, but an offensive foul gave the Gators possession, where Monaco took advantage and came out with the final goal.

Davies led the Gators (8-2) with a career-high five goals, three in the fourth quarter.

Redshirt freshman attacker Frannie Hahn also notched her third game with eight or more points (two goals, six assists), while freshman midfielder Gabby Greene tallied two goals and graduate student attacker Jordan Basso scored one.

Florida posted a season-high 22 ground balls, compared to Penn’s 12, with senior midfielder Josie Hahn and Frannie Hahn leading with three each. However, UF was outperformed in the draw circle as UPenn won 17 of 28 draw controls.

Back-and-Forth Battle

It was intense from the start. The Quakers began play with a goal just 42 seconds in, but then the Gators responded with three goals. UF’s 3-0 run ended after Penn scored two goals to tie the game at 3-3 after the first quarter.

In the second quarter, UF graduate student goalkeeper Georgia Hoey recorded three saves. Hoey started in the net, allowing seven goals on ten shots. UF redshirt junior Elyse Finnelle replaced her three minutes into the second half, allowing five goals and making one save.

After scoring one goal each in the second quarter, the game was tied 4-4 at halftime.

This back-and-forth pattern continued for the remainder of the game. By the end, there were seven ties and four lead changes.

In the third quarter, the Gators established a 5-4 lead, but yet again, Penn responded with four unanswered goals to take an 8-5 lead before UF ended the quarter with a 3-0 run to tie 8-8.

From that point on, Monaco clinched Florida’s fifth win against a ranked opponent in the final quarter.

Conference Play Begins

Next up, the Gators travel to open Big 12 conference play against UC Davis (3-6) on Friday at 9 p.m. in Davis, Calif.