Gators Lacrosse Edging Closer to Program History

The Florida Gators women's lacrosse team is on the verge of an historic season.

Maggi Hall, Florida Gators record-setting attacker / FloridaGators.com

Just two more teams stand in the way of the Florida Gators Women’s Lacrosse squad and their dream of hoisting the Women’s Lacrosse Championship trophy for the first time in school history. 

First though, they must go through none other than the best team in the country and the No.1 seeded Northwestern Wildcats, who won it all last year. 

Florida is the first unseeded team to reach the semifinals since 2017. Moreover, the last time the Gators were in this position was 12 years ago. 

There might only be eight-total teams given a seed in this tournament, but it is not like this Florida team burst on the scene out of nowhere. 

They have won 20 games in a row, the longest streak in the country, after dropping their first two games of the season to eighth-ranked Loyola University of Maryland and sixth-ranked North Carolina. 

During this streak, they have beaten Maryland twice, Princeton, James Maddison twice, North Carolina and Virginia. All these teams were ranked inside the top 25 with Maryland and Virginia being ranked inside the top ten. 

This will be the biggest test of all for the Gators and potentially could be a hazardous speed bump on their way to glory. However, it doesn’t sound like there is any lack of belief from one of their star players. 

“Not to sound cocky or anything – I don't want it to sound that way – but I am very confident in this group of girls. I'm confident in this team,” Senior Maggi Hall said during her media availability on Tuesday. 

And when you look at their stats on the season, it just shows where this Gators team’s confidence comes from. 

Florida ranks first in points and assists per game (through May 12). Additionally, they hold the number one scoring offense and fourth best scoring defense in the NCAA. 

When combining these stats, it results in them having a scoring margin of 9.86. This is the best across Division I and it beats second place (Boston College, 8.45) by 1.41. 

Compared to the Wildcats scoring margin of 6.94 this season, and they beat them by almost three goals. 

So, they have the offense and defense to compete with anyone out there. 

Another aspect of this great Gators team is that they have a natural star and one of the best in the country in Maggi Hall. 

According to Inside Lacrosse’s statistics, Hall ranks second in the entire country in total points (60 goals and 54 assists combined) with 114. This is a single season program-record for the Gators and Hall can even extend it more against the Wildcats on Friday. 

Also, she broke the program’s all-time assist record earlier this season in March against San Diego State. 

However, individual success is not of importance to her. 

“It's not about individual successes. It's about how we work together,” Hall said. 

She is right. Never can one player turn into a solo act to win championships. 

They will need a dominant, all-around team performance on Friday when they take on the Wildcats if they want to move onto the finals. 

This game is scheduled to start at 3 p.m. and televised on ESPNU.