In front of 2,114 fans at the the Donald R. Dizney Stadium in Gainesville, the Florida Gator lacrosse team had their first game ever. The Gators faced Jacksonville University on Saturday and defeated the Dolphins by a score of 16-6.

The freshman, Ashley Bruns, out of Ellicott City, Maryland led the Gators to a victory with four goals and four assists. Other notable Gators were Colby Rhea, Julie Schindel. Rhea and Schindel both scored three goals in the game. Sam Farrell scored the first goal in the Gator lacrosse team’s history to take the first lead of the game, 1-0. Although, the Dolphins tied up the score as Megan Lusby got the ball past the Gator defense and into the net. Within another minuet after the JU score, Rhea knocked one into the net to give the lead back to the Gators.

Schindel and Bruns used the all valuable teamwork method the give the Gators a 3 score lead. Jacksonville attempted a comeback as Hurley and Spangenberg scored two points to lessen the Dolphin deficit to three points. Although, Hillier, Chesterman, and Dashiell each put a point on the board to lift the Gators to a 11-4 going into halftime. The Gators made a two-goal run but before JU got too far behind, Abigail Warnken scored a goal for the Dolphins. The Gators responded by increasing the lead to 15-5, then to 16-5 by Schindel to end the game.

Bruns spoke to Gatorzone.com and said, “We’ve been waiting two years for this game. It was a huge win, but we still just have to take it one game at a time. It’s still going to be a lot of work.” Coach O’Leary spoke to the media saying, “We needed to get the first game under our belts. There was a lot of hype leading up to this game. I’d like to say it’s going to get easier, but I don’t think it will because of the competition.”

The next Gator lacrosse game will be played at La Salle on Tuesday. They face the number 4 ranked North Carolina in Chapel Hill on Sunday.

(Information collected from Gatorzone.com)
By: Justin Rectenwald