Michigan
1-1
Florida
1-0
U-M Unable to Overcome Powerful No. 7 Florida Offense
2/12/2023 2:36:00 PM | Women's Lacrosse
» Jill Smith scored a career-best six goals.
» Julia Schwabe netted U-M's only other goals of the day.
» Smith added a team-best six draw control wins.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- The No. 17-ranked University of Michigan women's lacrosse team could not overcome the powerful No. 7 Florida offense as it fell 17-8 in the road contest Sunday afternoon (Feb. 12) at Dizney Stadium.
Sophomore Jill Smith scored a career-high six goals on 11 shots, while sophomore Julia Schwabe netted U-M's only other goals and added one assist. Annabelle Burke and Ceci Stein also added one assist each on the day for the Wolverines. As a team, Michigan had 31 shots with 22 on frame and added 14 draw control wins with a team-high six wins from Smith and four from Maddie Burns.
Defensively, the Wolverines had six caused turnovers and 16 ground ball pickups with Smith causing two Florida miscues and Maya Santa-Maria picking up three ground balls. Santa-Maria earned her second straight start in the cage and made 10 saves for Michigan.
Florida opened up the scoring with back-to-back goals in the first three minutes of action but U-M was able to cut the UF lead to one when Smith earned herself a free position attempt in which she juked the goalie and fired it into the back of the cage with just over two minutes left in the first quarter.
Smith looked to knot it up in the opening stanza but her attempt was saved as Michigan trailed 2-1 after one complete quarter in Gainesville. The sophomore midfielder picked up where she left off in the second quarter answering two Florida goals with a pair of her own to keep the Wolverines within one of the Gators, 4-3, with 10 minutes left to play in the first half.
After assisting on Smith's third goal of the game, Schwabe had a rocket of a shot into the bottom third o of the cage to knot the game at 4-4 with 2:40 remaining in the first half. However, Florida responded with back-to-back goals in the final two minutes of action to take a 6-4 advantage into the halftime break.
Florida finished off a four-goal swing to start the second half to double up the Wolverines before Stein connected with Smith for her fourth of the day and end the Gator run. Goals continued to come in pairs for UF as it went up 10-5 with just over seven minutes to play but Smith netted two goals in less than a minute of action to cut the lead to just three, 10-7.
The Gators closed out the third quarter on a three-goal run to take a 13-7 advantage into the final 15 minutes of action. Florida outscored U-M 4-1 in the fourth quarter to earn the victory.
Michigan will return to action on Friday (Feb. 17) when it heads to Stony Brooks for a 4 p.m. contest.
