Florida rolls to AAC lacrosse tournament title match

Florida advanced Thursday to the AAC tournament championship game with an easy 19-6 win over Cincinnati at Donald R. Dizney Stadium.

The No. 8 Gators (15-2) will play Temple (12-4) for the title starting at noon Saturday when they will be going for their seventh consecutive conference tournament championship. The Owls eliminated Vanderbilt 16-11 in Thursday night's match.

"Cincinnati came out of the locker room really strong and dominated the draw circle early, but we responded well, making adjustments along the way," UF coach Amanda O'Leary said. "Shannon (Kavanagh) did a good job self-drawing to help us control the momentum."

Paisley Eagan and Grace Haus led the way with four goals apiece, followed by two from both Kavanagh and Danielle Pavinelli. Kavanagh's first goal of the day was her 200th career, making her just the fourth Gator to reach that milestone.

Seven Gators each tallied one goal on the afternoon: Brianna Harris, Kassidy Bresnahan, Ashley Gonzalez, Shelton Sawers, Emily Heller, Kaala Puglisi and Janine Suris.

Harris dished out five assists, tying her career-best mark. Bresnahan tallied two helpers of her own to tie her career-high, while Eagan and Gonzalez each registered one assist.

Florida won 16 of 25 draw controls, led by eight from Kavanagh and two from Heller.

UF's defense was locked in against the Bearcats (7-10), allowing only two goals through the first 47 minutes of the game and caused a total of eight turnovers.

Kaitlyn Dabkowski was lights out on defense, recording a career-high four caused turnovers and a personal-best four groundballs.

Sarah Reznick had a stellar game in the cage, recording seven saves and only allowing three goals for a .700 save percentage. She also posted a career-high five groundballs .