STONY BROOK, N.Y. – The No. 19 Stony Brook women's lacrosse team lost a close battle to No. 20 Florida on Saturday afternoon at LaValle Stadium, falling to the Gators by a 10-11 decision.

QUOTING HEAD COACH Joe Spallina
"It was a great battle between two really talented teams that have been bad-luck losers in some of their games, but we have a ton of respect for them. They have a team that is extremely talented and explosive offensively and I think big games like this come down to a play here and a play there."
 
HIGHLIGHTS

• The first half was back and forth between the two squads until Keri McCarthy (Hauppauge, N.Y.) and Siobhan Rafferty (Long Beach, N.Y.) notched back-to-back scores to give the Seawolves its first lead of the day, 4-3, with 5:10 left in the first half.
• Florida got the last say before heading to the locker room, sending a shot into the net with 4:22 on the clock to tie the game up at four goals apiece. 
• The Gators notched four of the second half's first five goals before the Seawolves started to mount a comeback as Rafferty, Taryn Ohlmiller (Islip, N.Y.) and Nicole Barretta (Exton, Pa.) all scored within 3:29 of each other to knot it all up, 8-8.
• Down by two goals underneath the two-minute mark, McCarthy sent in a shot with 1:22 left in regulation to make it a one-score game, but the team was unable to find the equalizer before the final buzzer rang.

NOTES

• Ohlmiller, McCarthy and Rafferty led the Seawolves' scoring charge with two goals apiece. 
• Ally Kennedy (North Babylon, N.Y.), Sabrina Tabasso (Lower Merion, Pa.) and Jesse Arline (Wading River, N.Y.) all added in scores for the team as well.
• Ohlmiller and Kennedy have scored in all eight games so far while Rafferty has notched at least one point in each contest.
• Carlee Janelli (Glen Head, N.Y.) led all players on the field with five ground balls while Kennedy led the home team with four draw controls.
• Kennedy also had a pair of caused turnovers along with Rachel Williams (Pasadena, Md.).
• Stony Brook outshot Florida by a 31-23 margin with 21 coming in the second half alone.
• The two squads were pretty even in ground balls and draw controls with the Gators having a 16-14 advantage in ground ball pickups and a 13-10 lead off the draw.
• Florida had a productive outing on its free position shots, converting five of its seven tries while Stony Brook only went 1-of-5 from the fan.
• Goalkeeper Anna Tesoriero (Huntington, N.Y.) made four saves in goal while the Gators' keeper had 15.
• Stony Brook is 1-6 all-time against Florida.

NEXT UP
The team returns back home next Saturday, Mar. 30, hosting UMass Lowell at 1 p.m. at LaValle Stadium.