On March 13, Lindsey Ronbeck was trying to redefend in a game against Navy when her right leg slipped and her left knee bent in awkwardly.

“The way I fell, I knew I did something,” said the Florida junior attacker. “It all happened so fast. I didn’t know if I heard a pop or felt a pop. I was thinking the worst.”

She wasn’t alone.

Amanda O’Leary’s heart sank, too. She’d already seen midfielder Brianna Harris ruled out for the season with a knee injury suffered on the very first day of practice. O’Leary thought that Ronbeck could be facing the same outlook.

“That was a little devastating only because she plays such an integral role on our team,” said the Gators' head coach. “The ball is in her stick a lot. When you lose that, you lose a big part of your offense. It’s not just her goals – that’s certainly a part of it – but it’s her distribution ability, her ability to draw two defenders and open up other people and just her individual ability to dodge and score.”

Florida roared back to top Navy, 19-16, despite Ronbeck not scoring before her injury then missing the entire second half. She originally was diagnosed with a Grade 2 sprained MCL that was determined by MRI to be a Grade 1 sprain. She had never missed a regular season game in her life.

“I felt like that was more mentally grueling than how I was feeling physically,” Ronbeck said. “After the Navy game, two days later, I was ready to get back. I was asking, ‘Can I try running today?’”

Ronbeck missed the next three games while rehabilitating the injury. In that time, Florida’s scoring dropped to 12.7 points per game. With her in the lineup, the No. 6 Gators score 17.2 points per game.

“I’m really thankful it was an injury that only kept her out a couple of games,” O’Leary said. “When you see how we did without her vs. how we do with her, I think that speaks to how important she is to the success of this program.”

Ronbeck came back with a knee brace on her left knee and some extra motivation. O’Leary never had a doubt once she heard that the sprain was mild. She knew she’d attack her rehab the way she has the game.

“What excites me the most is watching her development as a feeder, as a distributor, as someone who plays a role in opening up those opportunities for her teammates, making her teammates look better,” O’Leary said. “She’s always been a phenomenal 1v1 dodger. That doesn’t come as a surprise to anybody. It’s her development as a total offensive threat because they can throw a double team at her and she can get out of the double team and feed. She sees the field really well. It was that development that’s exciting for me – that she’s now a dual threat, not only a 1v1 threat, but a feeding threat. I can’t say enough about her and the work she puts in on her own is incredible.”

In Ronbeck’s return to the lineup, she became just the second Florida player in program history to score 10 points in a game in a 21-8 win over UConn. She’s savoring her chances a little more.

“I worked before and after practice with our assistant Taryn [VanThof] just to make sure that I was comfortable taking the same dodges and shots I’ve been taking my whole life,” Ronbeck said. “The main motivating factor for me was coming back with confidence that I don’t want to take any moment I have on the field for granted, and that was something I have going into the rest of my time here at Florida.”

With just this season and next season left in her career, she also believes she and her teammates have some unfinished business. The No. 2 recruit in her class, according to Inside Lacrosse, has seen each of her first two years end with losses in their first NCAA tournament games.

“I know a lot of girls on our team want a national championship this year and I think it’s kind of time for us to prove we can make it to the final four and not lose in the first round again,” Ronbeck said. “I think for the senior class – I know for my class, the freshmen coming and the sophomores too – we’re all really determined to not have people say, ‘What happened to Florida every year?’ We are a top five team. I think it’s pretty important for us ego-wise to get to the final four. That’s the major goal, and then once we get there, focus on the two games we have there.”

First up for Florida is finishing off a perfect run through the Big East. The Gators are 8-0 after a snowy 18-13 win at Denver on Saturday that clinched the top seed for the Big East tournament that begins May 3 in Gainesville, Fla. Florida will finish the regular season against visiting Butler on Saturday before it turns its attention to trying to win its fourth straight Big East tournament.

“There’s more parity in the Big East this year than any other year, which I think is kind of reflective in just Georgetown and us having clinched spots, so there’s quite a few teams vying for those last two spots,” O’Leary said. "It’s a year where you can’t take anybody lightly. It was a one-goal game against Vanderbilt and we were losing to Georgetown the entire way, and it was a close game against Denver.

“No matter who makes the last two, they’re going to be competitive games and they’re going to prepare us for the next challenge," O'Leary continued. "We’re just focused on the Big East. That is first and foremost in our minds right now.”

It’s the final year in the Big East for Florida before they move to the American Athletic Conference next year. Winning one more Big East crown is important to the Gators for confidence and preparation for the NCAA tournament. They feel better equipped to make a deep NCAA run with better chemistry.

“We’re the type of team that will have each other’s backs on and off the field,” Ronbeck said. “That’s something in the past we’ve lacked. We’re really supportive of each other. Everyone on our team is able to take constructive criticism really well and apply it to our practices and games. I think that’s a huge thing with any team, being able to do that. Even freshmen would tell me something in a game, and as an upperclassman on other teams, they’d say, ‘Who’s a freshman to tell me this,’ but I love it. They have a totally different view because they’re new to our team and I think that’s really cool. I think that’ll help going into NCAAs.”

Florida has a strong balance.

Ronbeck leads the team only marginally in points per game and goals per game. Shayna Pirreca and Sydney Pirreca are just behind in those categories, Shannon Kavanagh is a reliable fourth option and Grace Haus has given Florida 30 goals. Goalie Haley Hicklen ranks in the Top 25 in save percentage.

They have helped Florida build a strong resume of wins over No. 11 Colorado, No. 9 Loyola, No. 5 North Carolina, No. 12 Navy, and two Top 25 teams from the Big East in Georgetown and Denver. A series of scoring droughts against No. 2 Maryland and No. 17 Syracuse, and missing Ronbeck for their No. 10 Towson game, account for their only three defeats.

“They’ve shown they can come back from deficits on a number of occasions, more so than I would have liked,” O’Leary said. “They’re resilient. We have some really good team leaders and they’re really good in the locker room. This is a team that gets along really well. They have each other’s backs, so I think they are a special team.”