The University of Florida Gators capped off an undefeated regular season with two solid wins in the state championships. The two day event was hosted by the University of South Florida in Tampa, Florida.
The first day started with the B-side semifinals between USF and FSU, the winner of which would go on to play the UF “Killer Bees” on sunday. USF came out strong but the Noles finished stronger, advancing to the B-side championship.
The second match saw the Florida #1 seed UF take on a injury plagued #4 Eckerd College side. Though Eckerd intended to forfeit the Gators decided to lend them two B-side players and play the match. The the thanks go to Nicholas Calvo and Albin for volunteering to play with Eckerd and the Eckerd team for sticking it out. The final result was a lopsided 80-7 victory for UF, advancing the Gators to the championship.
The third Saturday match pitted constant rivals, and number 2 and 3 seeds respectively, FSU and USF in what would be a heated contest to decided who faced the Gators for the Florida Cup Championship game on Sunday. The two teams had faced each other in the fall with a 20-13 result going in favor of FSU. Both teams came out hard, with vicious tackling. FSU’s first chance at scoring fell short after an almost guaranteed try was knocked on in the try zone due to a great effort by a USF defender. The USF Bull’s defense held strong through several goal line attacks by FSU, and with 30 minutes left had a 19 to 12 lead to show for it. FSU had a majority of possession and territory for the closing 30 minutes, but squandered its opportunities to lose the match. The 19 – 12 final was a huge upset for the FSU side, which had been the only team to challenge the gators in the regular season. Defeating the nationally ranked, division 1 Noles was also a huge boost in confidence for the division 2 Bull’s, who advanced to the sunday game against UF.
A write up of the A and B side championship games will follow soon.
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