The Aggies finish fourth in Big West Standings
By DANIELLE WIRNOWSKI— sports@theaggie.org
The UC Davis women’s lacrosse team traveled to Boulder, Colorado to face the University of Florida (UF) on May 1 for the Big 12 Conference Semifinals.
Coming off a win against San Diego State University, the UC Davis Aggies were ready to bring that same winning energy to the semifinals of the Big 12 against the UF Gators.
The Aggies, with a record of 6-9 prior to this game, started off strong with draw control by Annie Cimperman, a third-year communications and design double major. Despite this, UF picked up the ball after a shot attempt taken by the Aggies’ Alex Agnew, a cognitive science graduate student.
UF proceeded to go on a 4-0 run within the first six minutes of the game. They were also able to maintain control of the ball after each score, with the exception of the first goal they scored, in which the Aggies were able to gain control and attempt another shot.
Lauren Picardi, a fourth-year human development major, scored the first goal for the Aggies in the ninth minute of the game. After Picardi secured this goal, Cimperman regained possession of the ball for the Aggies in the following two minutes, only until the Gators gained control through a ground ball pickup.
Unfortunately, UF shut down any chance of the Aggies scoring more goals in the first quarter, with UF being able to score four additional goals.
Ally Richardson-Pepper, a fourth-year managerial economics major, secured a ground ball pick-up for the Aggies and attempted to convert this into an offensive play within the last 12 seconds of the first period. However, the attempt was stopped by UF’s strong defense.
UF’s momentum did not end in the first quarter either, with the Gators scoring five more goals against the Aggies in the second quarter. Nonetheless, the Aggies ensured that the Gators would have to fight for the chance to score a goal again.
In the last minute of the second quarter, the Aggies were able to secure a turnover, which led to the second and final goal for the season by Jane Fox, a first-year undeclared major. This brought the score to 13-2 in favor of the Gators at the end of the first half of the game.
Going into the second half of the game, the Aggies were ready to put up a vicious fight against the Gators and attempt to stop them from securing any more points on the board. UF started the third period with possession of the ball, but the Aggies attempted to gain control of the ball as much as possible during this period, resulting in plenty of attempted shots taken and draw controls.
Despite their efforts in the third period, the Aggies were unable to score more goals, while the Gators ended the period with four additional goals, bringing the score to 18-2 in favor of the Gators.
The Aggies employed the same strategy they used in the third period in the final period of the game, attempting to gain possession of the ball for as many minutes as possible through ground ball picks, turnovers and draw controls.
Unfortunately, the Aggies were unable to convert these possessions into successful shots on the Gators. UF was able to secure four more goals against the Aggies, despite the Aggies’ efforts, finalizing the score at 22-2 in favor of the Gators. The Aggies put up a strong fight against UF, but were unable to convert any goal attempts and secure the win for the semifinals, ending their season in Colorado.
The Aggies end their 2024-2025 season with a standing of No. 4 in the Big 12 Conference and a record of 6-10.
Written by: (Danielle Wirnowski) — sports@theaggie.org
