Bears Battle with No. 7 Florida, Fall in NCAAs

Friday, May 13

Gainesville, FL

12 p.m.

Mercer University

14-5, 8-1Big South

Florida

16-4, 5-0AAC

Mercer

Florida

Photo by: James Thomas

Bears Battle with No. 7 Florida, Fall in NCAAs

5/13/2022 2:44:00 PM | Women's Lacrosse

Box Score

Mercer appeared in fourth consecutive NCAA Tournament

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – After winning the Big South and the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, Mercer – who was receiving votes in the final IWLCA poll of the regular season – gave the seventh-ranked Gators a hard fight but fell by a 19-12 margin at Donald R. Dizney Stadium.

Chloe Schaeffer and Shannon Urey each tallied a hat trick and added an assist, leading the offense in Gainesville. The duo of Hannah Lind and Hailey Rhatigan both tacked two on the board, while Lyndsey Lewis and Abby Soltys scored a goal apiece. Maddi Koury helped on a pair of goals while Kileigh Casey added an assist.

Despite falling behind 4-1 early, the Bears rattled off three unanswered on goals from Urey, Soltys and Rhatigan to bring the game level at 4 apiece with 1:05 left in the opening frame before the hosts scored to take a lead they would not relinquish.

Comeback attempts in the second half that featured goals from Schaeffer, Lind, Rhatigan and Urey were thwarted by the Gators' defense to secure the result.

Ainsley Malamala and Emma Pizzo paced the Bears' defense with three caused turnovers apieces and Iseabal Cryne led with five claimed ground balls.

Cryne made 11 stops - including five in each the second and fourth – in the game's entirety from the cage.

Mercer ends it championship season with a 14-5 record.

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