M

ore often than not, the word “inexperienced” is used with a negative connotation, used as a means of explaining away a loss or a mental mistake in a big situation.

The Florida women’s lacrosse team certainly suffered from this form of inexperience at different points in the abbreviated 2020 season, but what’s seemingly overlooked is how that inexperience also paved the way for season-shaping victories.

On Feb. 15, the Gators marched into College Park staring down a Maryland program with an 86-game home winning streak. Maybe Florida’s youth showed a bit of naiveté in not recognizing the brevity of that streak. Maybe they were blissfully unaware of the stakes of that early season contest.

Either way, that youth helped snap that streak with a 15-14 win. Yes, it was junior Shannon Kavanagh who led the way with eight goals, but Florida’s starting lineup featured five freshmen (including redshirts Emerson Cabrera and Sarah Reznick) and three sophomores.

“When you do have those young players, they just go out and play,” Gators coach Amanda O’Leary said. “You put the ball out there, and you let them go. That was a difference-maker in that game. They just continued to play, even when our lead started to dwindle. I specifically remember Emily Heller; she’s a freshman and she’s running our midfield. Nothing fazed her. She just did her business.”

The momentum from that win didn’t immediately carry over. One week later, the Gators ran into the Loyola buzzsaw and were dominated in a 17-6 loss. O’Leary said she was “super impressed” with Loyola and called the Greyhounds the better team that day.

As talented teams do, Florida bounced back with another ranked win, this one against a Stony Brook team that stormed out to a hot start but fell flat as Reznick adjusted between the pipes. She made 13 saves and drew praise from up and down the roster.

She redshirted last season with incumbent Haley Hicklen seeing time as the starter, but there was never any doubt that Reznick was ready for the big time.

“Last year, with her coming on board and obviously having Haley in the cage, Sarah could’ve started for any program in the country,” O’Leary said. “She is, by far, one of the best — if not, the best — goalies in the country, in my opinion. She has this sense of calm about her. Nothing rattles her.”

And even though another letdown against Dartmouth came four days after the Stony Brook win, those around the Gators knew it would be a matter of time before everything came together. They just never thought it’d end so abruptly, but the COVID-19 pandemic forced a shutdown of the sports world.

To some degree, the Gators view this season — in which they went 6-2 — as something of a trial run. Sure, 2020’s results counted, but the freshmen gained valuable experience while also retaining this year of eligibility down the line if they so choose, thanks to the NCAA’s ruling that it would be “appropriate” for schools and conference to provide eligibility relief.

“You could really see the depth of our talent, but you could also see the age gap, the fact that we didn’t really have any senior starters [other than defender Cara Trombetta],” redshirt-junior Brianna Harris said. “It was all a learning experience, and after those losses, we’d come back with another big win.

“I think this team has so much potential. We showed a lot of it. I think we have an unlimited, untapped potential.”

Harris played up to her potential this year, too, one year from removed from struggling to return to full strength from an ACL injury in 2018. She missed that entire season and played in 20 games with six starts in 2019, but she constantly battled with a numb feeling in her knee from nerve damage that is often associated with ACL recovery.

“It was horrible. I didn’t feel like myself in my body,” Harris said. “I was 10 pounds underweight no matter how much I ate. I was lifting every single day.”

A summer internship at Comcast Technologies helped her get stronger. She said she lifted for two hours and drank two protein shakes each day. The internships was “two months of hardcore work,” and the focus helped her get back.

It was still something of a mental battle, though. She tore the ACL in her right knee on January 20, 2018, exactly five years to the day after she tore her left ACL. When she tore the tendon in her left knee in 2013, it was the same day her identical twin sister, Kayla (who is graduating from the Naval Academy this season), was cleared to return from an ACL injury of her own.

“I have a nervous breakdown every year the day before [Jan. 20],” Harris said, laughing as she recognized that it is truly all coincidental.

“I’m embarrassed by the way I played last year,” she said. “Not because I didn’t try, but because I didn’t feel like myself. I’m not embarrassed by the stats, but I’m embarrassed that I feel like I didn’t represent myself fully.”

When Harris speaks, you can hear the motivation in her tone. She proved herself in 2020, notching 27 goals and 15 assists in just eight games, and she’ll continue to be a key player in Florida’s success next season.

As will Kavanagh, a game-changing midfielder who was making a case to stand on the stage in Washington, D.C., as a Tewaaraton finalist come the end of May.

“I definitely felt a huge difference in my game from years past,” Kavanagh said. “I think a lot of it had to do with confidence, just knowing that I was the vet on the field and I had a job to do.”

Other than willing Florida to that thrilling win over Maryland, Kavanagh was a consistent force. She had 34 goals, scoring at least four times in all but two games. She continued her dominance of the draw circle, coming away with 56 draw controls — tied for seventh-most in the nation.

Plus, she’s a true two-way middie.

“With her, what sets her apart is that she’s a true midfielder,” O’Leary said. “At Maryland, she ran the entire midfield the entire game. We couldn’t afford to take her out of the game.

“There’s not a thing that we don’t ask her to do. She does it all.”

Kavanagh also spearheaded a culture shift. The Gators seemed stuck in a rut, continually making NCAA tournament appearances but falling short of their ultimate goal each time. Kavanagh tried to instill the “we before me” mindset to help her teammates rely on each other.

“We would get to the same round, and it was like a curse,” she said. “We would never get past it. I think we all knew it had to do with the chemistry on the field and the mindset.”

With no chance to lift the curse in 2020, Kavanagh and her Gators have no choice but to look to 2021. That future appears bright, with an influx of talent ready to continue taking over in Gainesville.

“We were super excited that we were seeing a lot of new faces on the field,” O’Leary said. “The ability to watch them grow and the rate at which they were getting better, it was exciting. I would say it was definitely a trial run, but I could not be more excited to hit the field next year when given the opportunity.”