Gator Country

Lindsay Thompson got the only goal the Gators needed to advance in the SEC Soccer Tournament.

The Florida Gators and Tennessee Volunteers can't ever seem to settle soccer matches during regulation. Earlier this season two overtimes couldn’t settle the score and it took another two overtimes Wednesday night in the first round of the Southeastern Conference Soccer Tournament in Orange Beach, AL.

Through 90 minutes of regulation and a scoreless first overtime, the Gators and Vols appeared destined for a penalty kick shootout but Lindsay Thompson stepped in to score on a shot from six yards out in the second overtime to give Florida a 1-0 win.

With just a few minutes left in the second overtime period, Florida midfielder Tahnai Annis found fellow midfielder Erika Tymrak, who passed to Thompson. Just six yards out of the net, Thompson saw no defenders around her and started a little internal celebration.

She found the far post with her shot for the win.

“I didn’t have anybody close to me,” Thompson said by phone after the game. “All I had to do is just hit it past the goalie.”

When she saw the ball hit the net, she sprinted toward the Florida bench, where she was engulfed by her teammates in a sea of celebration.

“It just felt great to win the game,” she said.  “Normally, when you score it feels great, but it doesn’t mean that you won. It’s so much different with an overtime goal --- it finishes the game.”

The score came after a change in the Gators’ formation between the two overtime periods. Florida head coach Becky Burleigh saw that her midfielders were getting bypassed, and putting two forwards in the game allowed Thompson to play higher on the field, deviating from their typical one-forward formation, a 4-3-2-1.

When she saw Thompson get the ball down by the net, she counted on her scoring leader to finish.

“I knew she had a pretty good angle, and that she was facing the goal,” Burleigh said. “Normally when Lindsay is in that position, she finishes.”

The game extends the Florida shutout streak to five games. The last team to score against the Gators were these same Volunteers. They scored two goals in a double-overtime tie on Oct. 16 in Tennessee.

Burleigh said that her team played much better in this matchup.

“There is no comparison from last time we played them to this time in terms of how we controlled the ball and creating opportunities for ourselves,” Burleigh said. “We created enough opportunities to finish this game three or four times. Unfortunately, it took us a long time to finish.”

The Florida player most pleased with Thompson’s game-ending goal was the furthest away. Florida goalkeeper Katie Fraine celebrated knowing that she wouldn’t have to go through a keeper’s worst nightmare: penalty kicks.

“The whole team had quite a few opportunities that we probably should have put away earlier,” Fraine said. “But to be able to put it away in overtime and not to have to play into penalty kicks is a keeper’s dream.”

Fraine was one of two Gators’ players named to the All-SEC team Tuesday, along with senior defender Lauren Hyde. Lindsay Thompson was named to the All-SEC second team, and three freshmen—Brooke Thigpen, Erika Tymrak and Kathryn Williamson --- were placed on the SEC All-Freshman team.

The Gators will play their next game Friday at 8:30 p.m. against South Carolina, who defeated Georgia Wednesday. The last game between the two teams was a 3-0 Florida win.

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