Gators Lacrosse Makes Bid For AAC Championship. Crushes First Round Opponent E. Carolina, 18-7.

By KYLE CURTIS GatorBaitMedia.com The No. 8 nationally ranked Florida Gator lacrosse team ended its regular season with some impressive hardware. After defeating the Eastern Carolina Pirates 16-4, Florida was able to clinch the regular-season title for the American Athletic Conference (AAC). The Gators are a part of the AAC for lacrosse because there is no women’s lacrosse in the SEC. The win adds to the momentum the Gators had going into the postseason. They had won 11-straight games along with finishing the year with a perfect conference record of 5-0. Being a new program of only 13 years, the Gators have shown no growing pains en route to becoming a powerhouse across the league. The Gators have not lost a conference game since April of 2015 and have finished undefeated in conference play nine times.

As they entered post season hopeful of making a run, the Florida team blew out their opponent in Thursday's first round game, crushing East Carolina in Greenville, NC, 18-8, as two players scored four goals each -- Maggi Hall and Emmal LoPinto.

Throughout the year, the Gators have been lifted by their defensive play which transitions nicely to their offense. The same went with their conference-clinching regular victory over the Pirates. The Gators held ECU to just 4-of-21 shooting while shutting them out in the first half in the previous game. Sarah Reznick recorded a save in her 46th straight game, which is good for the second-longest streak in program history. Reznick finished the night with a .667 save percentage allowing only two goals in her 44 minutes in the cage. The two goals allowed tied a career-best which she has achieved five times throughout her illustrious career. Julia Hammerschlag came in to relieve Reznick of her duties and finished up with one save while allowing two goals in nearly 16 minutes. The offense performed rather stellar as well. Emma LoPinto led the way with a hat trick of her own while Ashley Gonzales, Emerson Cabrera, Paisley Eagan and Janine Suris each added two goals of their own. Five other Gators also added a singular goal with an additional six dishing-out assists. With the finale of the season, plenty of Gators also received end-of-year awards. Six Gators were recognized for first-team all-conference with an additional three being recognized for second-team.

Emma Lopinto, an attacker, took home freshman of the year accolades; Danielle Pavinelli was recognized as the attacker of the year; Emma Wightman won defender of the year; Sarah Reznick won goalkeeper of the year. All the accolades are for all women’s lacrosse athletes across the AAC. On top of all the players’ success, the coaching staff of UF also won coaches of the year respectively in their conference.