The Ohio State women’s lacrosse team came up short against Florida on Friday, falling to the Gators, 16-13, in the semifinals of the American Lacrosse Conference Tournament in Nashville, Tenn.
The fourth-seeded Buckeyes fell behind early as the top-seeded Gators stormed out to a 5-0 lead just more than 10 minutes into the game. OSU trailed, 10-6, at the half.
After a 3-0 run by Florida to start the second half pushed the margin to 13-6, OSU gradually worked its way back into the game and brought the score to 14-12 with just under nine minutes left. That was the closest the Buckeyes got, as the Gators scored the next two goals and eventually punched their ticket to the ALC Tournament championship game.
The Buckeyes finished the season at 10-7, including a 2-3 regular-season ALC record and a 1-1 mark in the conference tournament.
OSU will now wait to find out if it is selected to the field of the NCAA Tournament, which will be announced via Web stream on NCAA.com at 7:30 p.m. on Sunday.
The NCAA Tournament consists of 16 teams, six of which are automatic bids from conference-tournament champions, two of which are predetermined play-in games and eight of which are at-large bids. The ALC is not part of the automatic bids or play-in games, so the Buckeyes only shot to be picked will be through the at-large selection process.
Two of the main factors the selection committee uses in picking at-large teams are ratings percentage index (RPI) and strength of schedule. According to laxpower.com, OSU is ranked No. 13 in RPI and No. 15 in schedule difficulty. The Buckeyes are also ranked No. 18 in the latest Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association poll.
