WASHINGTON, D.C. – For the second straight year, the University of Florida won the BIG EAST Women’s Lacrosse Championship, presented by the Jeep Brand, as the top-seeded Gators defeated third-seeded Temple, 16-4, Saturday at Georgetown’s Cooper Field. Led by the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player senior midfielder Nicole Graziano, Florida clinched a spot in the 2016 NCAA Championship with the selection show scheduled for Sunday at 9 p.m. (ET) on NCAA.com.
After entering halftime with a 4-2 lead, Florida (18-1) opened up the scoring in the second half quickly and with fury, beating the keeper twice in the first 45 seconds and five times before the Owls (13-6) would find the back of the net again. The Gators would total 12 goals over the final 30 minutes with Graziano finishing with four off six shots, and Sammi Burgess, Lindsey Ronbeck, and Sydney Pirreca all notching hat tricks.
Four different Temple players provided goals while Jaqi Kakalecik made four saves in net. Twin sisters Megan and Nicole Tiernan both scored for the third straight game following a combined five goals in Thursday night’s upset of No. 2 seed Connecticut, and one apiece in the pivotal regular-season finale win over Georgetown.
Graziano’s two-game showing at the BIG EAST Championship saw five total goals, two assists, five draw controls and three caused turnovers. Including last season’s title run, Graziano’s four-game BIG EAST Championship career totaled eight goals, five assists, 11 draw controls and five caused turnovers.
Graziano was joined on the BIG EAST All-Tournament Team by fellow Gators Burgess, Pirreca, Lauren Lea and Haley Hicklen. Temple’s Morgan Glassford, Megan Tiernan and Kirstie Connor were named to the all-tournament team as well, along with Connecticut’s Grace Nolan and Alyson Fazio and Georgetown’s Kristen Bandos and Taylor Gebhardt.
Hicklen split time in the net for Florida with senior Mary-Sean Wilcox, with Hicklen making nine saves and allowing five goals over the two-game tournament.
Florida becomes the third program to win back-to-back BIG EAST titles, joining Loyola (2011-12) and Syracuse (2007-08). The No. 1 seed improved to 6-3 all-time in the BIG EAST final, having won crowns in each of the last four seasons. Temple finishes as runner-up in what was its first BIG EAST Championship appearance, becoming the fourth No. 3 seed to garner second-place honors.
BIG EAST Championship Most Outstanding Player
Nicole Graziano, Florida, R-Sr., M
BIG EAST All-Tournament Team
Alyson Fazio, Connecticut, Sr., M
Grace Nolan, Connecticut, So., A
Taylor Gebhardt, Georgetown, Fr., A
Kristen Bandos, Georgetown, Sr., M
Morgan Glassford, Temple, Jr., M
Megan Tiernan, Temple, Sr., M
Kirstie Connor, Temple, Sr., M
Lauren Lea, Florida, Sr., A
Nicole Graziano, Florida, R-Sr., M
Sydney Pirreca, Florida, Fr., M
Sammi Burgess, Florida, Jr., A
Haley Hicklen, Florida, Fr., GK
BIG EAST Women’s Lacrosse Championship Central
BIG EAST Women’s Lacrosse Championship
Cooper Field - Georgetown - Washington, D.C.
Semifinals - Thursday, May 5
No. 1 Florida 11, No. 4 Georgetown 8 ^
No. 3 Temple 12, No. 2 UConn 8^
Final – Saturday, May 7
No. 1 Florida 16, No. 3 Temple 4# -
BOX SCORE
All Times Eastern
^BEDN
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