Gator Country

Before, they were winning. Now, they’re dominating.

The Gator soccer team won its seventh consecutive match Sunday, thumping Louisiana State 5-0 before a crowd of 967 during a cloudy afternoon at Pressly Stadium.

The Gators, who started SEC play 0-2, moved to 11-4-2 overall and 7-2 in the conference, well within striking distance of first-place Tennessee, the team that last beat UF (2-0) on Sept. 30.

Once October arrived, the Gators have rolled, outscoring their last seven foes 20-1. They have tallied five goals three times – against Mississippi State, Alabama and LSU. The only smudge during the win streak was a meaningless second-half goal by Alabama, which lost to Florida, 5-1, last Sunday.

“Today, it was just a terrific game in terms of a team effort,” UF coach Becky Burleigh said. “There was a lot of unselfish play that led to some great goals. We got contributions from everyone on the bench. You can’t ask for much more than that. This was a terrific team performance all the way around, one of the best games we played this season.

“Part of it is our team is playing more together and coming together, and part of it is we’re just finishing. We were playing this well at times before, but just not finishing and I think that’s been the real difference.”

After yielding two goals to Georgia and Tennessee the first weekend of SEC play, the No. 23 Gators have posted six shutouts. Two conference games remain. Both are at home --- one against South Carolina (Friday at 6 p.m.) and another against Vanderbilt (Sunday).

“When our team plays good defense, it’s because we team defend,” Burleigh said. “We cover a lot of ground in the way that our system operates. They’re always covering for each other. When that happens, it’s just difficult for teams to break that down.  Once you beat one person, there’s another player to beat. It’s hard to beat two people.”

KeLeigh Hudson supplied more than enough offense for Florida. The forward scored three goals --- two in the second half – to lead the Gators, who out shot LSU (10-3-6, 4-2-4) 17-5

“It was great to see (KeLeigh play well),” Burleigh said. “I think it gave her a lot of confidence. Even later in the game, you could see she was playing with more and more confidence after scoring those goals. She got a lot of help from her teammates. I’m sure she’d be the first to tell you that.”

The hat trick was the first of Hudson’s college career first since she arrived at Florida four years ago. Other goals came from Ashlee Elliott and Daniela Sanchez. Ameera Abdullah, Stacy Bishop, Shana Hudson, Lauren Hyde, KeLeigh Hudson and Elliott provided assists.

“(The key) was good preparation and the team,” KeLeigh Hudson said. “It’s all about helping each other and getting the win for the team.”

About the author

Mike Hodge

Mike is an award-winning writer who won Florida Press Club awards for sports column writing and sports news reporting while at the Ocala Star-Banner. He is now the editor of the Gator Country Magazine, an excellent publication in its own right!

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