GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The fourth-seeded Florida lacrosse team (18-2, 5-0 Big 12) earned its sixth-consecutive double-digit victory, defeating Mercer (12-8, 7-1 Big South) 18-6 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday afternoon.

UF improves to 7-0 all-time in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, as the team used an 8-0 run in the second quarter to turn a 3-2 lead into a 12-2 lead and 12-3 advantage at halftime.

The Gators never trailed and led by as many as 14 with nine different players finding the back of the net, led by Gianna Monaco who tallied career highs with seven goals and eight points.

Kaitlyn Davies, Gabby Greene and Gabbie Koury each scored two goals in the game along with Jordan Basso, Josie Hahn, Celeste Forte, Clark Hamilton and Ava Tighe contributing a goal.

Frannie Hahn logged two assists, as she captured the all-time season assist record in UF history with 55 on the year. Basso tied a season high four assists, along with one from Greene, Jenny Markey and Monaco.

Elyse Finnelle recorded five saves, to improve to 12-0 on the season. She was relieved by Georgia Hoey who recorded two saves and Susan Radebaugh closed out the game to give a combined .538 save percentage.

“It’s been a goal of ours from August, and we don’t talk about it because we always have to be where our feet are. I think this team has done a phenomenal job of doing that. It is one game at a time, wherever we are, that’s the moment and I’m really proud of this group.”

On Gianna Monaco’s 17 goals over the last three few games…
“I mean honestly, when you have someone putting up those numbers, it’s just super impressive, but for us it’s the norm. We see that every day at practice, we see the hard work that goes into it. It’s just not something that, you know, you flip the switch and all of a sudden you’re scoring those kinds of goals. There’s a lot of work that goes into that. We expect it, we set our bar really high for her and she’s exceeded those expectations thus far.”