The No. 5 Gators never trailed as a pair of five-point performances from seniors Mollie Stevens and Sammi Burgess paced them to a 15-10 victory over No. 3 USC in the programs’ first-ever meeting.

"I'm very proud of our team,” said Florida coach Amanda O’Leary. “This was a fantastic win for our program."

Burgess opened the scoring two minutes in before Florida used a 6-1 run, sparked by Stevens in a man-up offense, to lead 7-3 at halftime.

After the break, the Gators again got on the board first, but USC scored four straight goals, with Kylie Drexel having a hand in three, to come within one with 23:02 remaining.

But the Gators responded quickly with a four-goal run of their own to regain a 12-7 advantage. The final 9:28 saw a tied 3-3 battle, but USC couldn’t overcome Florida’s first half dominance.

“We had a long time to practice and prepare for this game,” said Stevens, who had a team-high four draw controls. “It was a total team effort tonight. Our defense would try to mimic their zone every day in practice and that gave us the ability to take opportunities when we saw them. It really paid off for us in the game.”

The Trojans had a 17-10 edge on the draw thanks to 10 controlled by senior Michaela Michael, but Florida senior keeper Haley Hicklen’s 13 saves and a program record 24 caused turnovers by the defenders of the swamp held off USC’s firepower.  The Gators outshot the Trojans 29-24 and also won the ground ball battle 31-26.

Stevens led Florida’s scoring effort with five goals, while Burgess had two goals and three assists. The Pirreca sisters combined for eight points – Shayna with four goals and Sydney with two goals and two assists.

USC had a team-best four goals from Cynthia Del Core, while Drexel added four points on the night with two goals and two assists. Michael added a hat trick.