Dynasty Continues: Florida Wins Fourth Straight AAC Championship

England coronated a new King and Queen-Consort this morning.

The same cannot be said in the American Athletic Conference. Florida upended top-seed James Madison 9-8 in the AAC championship game on the campus of Temple University.

The win is the ninth-straight conference tournament crown for Florida and 10^th overall in its 14-year history. Four of those titles have come in the AAC, which began sponsoring women’s lacrosse in 2019.

“It’s hard to put into words,” said Amanda O’Leary, Florida’s first and only head coach who starred in field hockey and lacrosse at host-site Temple. “You’ve won it in the past, but it’s so special each and every year … Not winning the regular season title was a … chip on our shoulder … glad we could redeem ourselves.”

James Madison beat Florida 14-9 on March 18, ran the table in its first season in the AAC and broke the Gators’ run of 11-straight regular-season conference championships. On Saturday, it was Florida’s turn to play spoiler — this time to James Madison’s 17-game winning streak that began after an opening-day loss to defending national champion UNC.

“We wanted it so bad,” said Florida goalie Sara Reznick. “When we lost to them in the regular season, I said, ‘Remember this feeling because we are going to see them again. I think they did.”

Reznick made 10 saves and was named the championship’s Most Outstanding Player. Danielle Pavinelli scored three goals and added an assist. Liz Harrison finished with seven draws.

Isabella Peterson tallied a game-high four goals for James Madison. Kat Buchanan made seven saves. The Dukes will await an at-large bid on Selection Sunday.
 

It was a back-and-forth affair from the jump. The Gators took an early 2-0 lead in a first half that included three ties and ended with James Madison up 6-5 at the break. Peterson’s first-half hat trick accounted for half of the Dukes’ scoring, while five different Gators netted a goal.

Pavinelli opened the third-quarter scoring when she split the James Madison defense and scored unassisted to tie the game at 6-6 at 11:37. Pavinelli struck again at 9:59, taking a feed from Ashley Gonzalez in front and scoring for a 7-6 Gators lead.

Peterson knotted the score at 7-all on a free position with 6:17 left in the fame, and Lizzie Fox gave the Dukes the lead back when she dodged inside and bounced a shot by Reznick with 51 ticks on the clock.

In the waning seconds of the third quarter, Peterson had a chance to extend the lead when in the waning moments of the quarter, taking a feed from Tai Jankowski and firing a quick-release shot. But Reznick was there for the stuff.

Emma LoPinto circled from behind the cage and scored to even the score at 8-8 with 12:26 remaining, and Maggi Hall found Madison Waters cutting toward the cage for a woman-up goal and a 9-8 Florida lead at 10:43. Tayler Warehime attempted to give Florida a two-goal cushion with a hard shot from close-range at 7:11, but Buchanan made a point-blank save. 

Florida’s defense clamped down on James Madison’s final offensive possession, making it impossible to get a good look. Taylor Marchetti tried, taking an outside shot from the right side of the cage — an easy stop for Resnick with 21 seconds to play.