COLUMBUS, Ohio – Tahnai Annis and McKenzie Barney scored second-half goals as Florida opened its NCAA Tournament run with a 2-0 victory Friday afternoon over Illinois State at the Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium on the Ohio State campus.
The victory puts the regional’s third-seeded Gators (16-5-2) into a Sunday afternoon game with Oregon State (13-7-1), which ousted host Ohio State 3-1 in the nightcap of the Friday doubleheader. Illinois State completed its season at 12-7-1.
After a scoreless first half that the Gators dominated, Florida finally got on board 13 minutes into the second half when Jessica Eicken got control of the ball just inside the box and chipped it over to Barney, who found sophomore Annis making a run. Annis didn’t miss, much to the delight of a crowd of family and friends who made the 55-mile trip over from Zanesville to watch her.
“I remember Holly (King) made a good cross in the box. It was kind of jumbled around in there. They cleared it, but not all the way, so they were trying to get it out of their box,” Annis said. “We got the ball back and I remember Jessica (Eicken) played the ball in. McKenzie (Barney) and I recognized that we could get behind the line. We were all there in position. I saw the ball get through so I just needed to stay composed to get the goal (in the 58th minute).”
Annis, the 2007 Ohio Scholastic Soccer Coaches Association (OSSCA) Division I Player of the Year, was delighted to play in front of her friends and to score her sixth goal of the season for them.
Barney added a goal to go with her assist just over seven minutes later.
“My goal was purely a transition goal. (Goalie) Katie Fraine found Jazmyne Avant who hustled to get up field. I think she played me a one-two at midfield and she went for it. I thought Jazmyne’s got it because we had Tahnai (Annis) and Sarah (Chapman) in the box plus other people ready to go,” Barney said. “Honestly, I got lucky. I was trailing behind all of them because I had played that ball to Jazmyne near midfield. She played a great ball in. It was more of a 50-50 so I tried my hardest to get it. I was really happy it went in. It wasn’t accurate, it was just kind of a kick and it went in. It was all Jazmyne’s work.”
The goal was Barney’s eighth of the season, with all of her goals coming in the last 13 matches. She is now second among the Gators with eight goals and 18 points.
“We knew this was going to be a tough game because once the game started we could tell that Illinois State was going to sit in a little bit,” Florida coach Becky Burleigh said. “That’s never easy to play against. It can be frustrating and challenging. I thought Illinois State did a good job of staying very compact defensively,” Burleigh said. “I was happy when we finally broke them down.”
The Gators best opportunity of the opening half came in the 14th minute. Sophomore Sarah Chapman’s 20-yard shot hit the cross bar. The ball kicked back into the field of play, but no Gators could get to the rebound before the Redbirds cleared it out.
NCAA DIVISION I WOMEN’S TOURNAMENT
FIRST ROUND
Thursday’s games
At Stanford, Calif.
Brigham Young 2, UC-Santa Barbara 0
(1) Stanford 2, Northern Arizona 0
Friday’s games
At Santa Clara, Calif.
(4) Santa Clara 1, Michigan State 0
Oklahoma State 1, Southern California 1, OT (Oklahoma State wins on penalty kicks, 5-4)
At Madison, Wis.
(3) UCF 3, Milwaukee 0
Wisconsin 1, Arizona State 1 (Wisconsin wins on penalty kicks, 4-3)
At Chestnut Hill, Mass.
(2) Boston College 1, Harvard 0
Connecticut 1, Boston University 0
At Portland, Ore.
Washington 1, Mississippi 0
(2) Portland 4, Denver 0
At Dayton, Ohio
Marquette 0, Dayton 0 (Dayton wins on penalty kicks, 4-3)
(3) Virginia Tech 2, Murray State 0
At State College, Pa.
Virginia 0, St. John’s 0 (Virginia wins on penalty kicks, 3-1)
(4) Penn State 5, Colgate 0
At Los Angeles, Calif.
(1) UCLA 7, Boise State 1
San Diego State 1, San Diego 0
At Chapel Hill, N.C.
(1) North Carolina 1, High Point 0
Georgia 3, North Carolina-Wilmington 0
At College Park, Md.
(4) Maryland 4, Monmouth 0
Washington State 1, Villanova 0
At Winston-Salem, N.C.
West Virginia 2, Loyola, Md. 0
(3) Wake Forest 2, Kennesaw State 0
At Columbia, S.C.
(2) South Carolina 4, Davidson 0
Rutgers 2, Duke 0
At South Bend, Ind.
Central Michigan 2, Purdue 0
(2) Notre Dame 5, IUPUI 0
At Columbus, Ohio
(3) Florida 2, Illinois State 0
Oregon State 3, Ohio State 1
At Baton Rouge, La.
(4) Louisiana State 7, Arkansas-Pine Bluff 0
Texas A&M 3, Memphis 1
At Tallahassee, Fla.
(1) Florida State 4, Southeastern Louisiana 1
California 2, Auburn 1
SECOND ROUND
Saturday’s game
Brigham Young (18-3-2) vs. (1) Stanford (21-0-0) at Stanford, Calif., 4 p.m.
Sunday’s games
Connecticut (11-7-2) vs. (2) Boston College (16-3-2) at Chestnut Hill, Mass., 1 p.m.
Dayton (16-0-6) vs. (3) Virginia Tech (15-7-0) at Dayton, Ohio, 1 p.m.
Virginia (9-5-6) vs. (4) Penn State (13-5-2) at State College, Pa., 1 p.m.
Georgia (15-5-1) vs. (1) North Carolina (18-3-1) at Chapel Hill, N.C., 1 p.m.
Washington State (14-5-2) vs. (4) Maryland (13-5-2) at College Park, Md., 1 p.m.
West Virginia (10-6-6) vs. (3) Wake Forest (14-5-2) at Winston-Salem, N.C., 1 p.m.
Rutgers (14-3-4) vs. (2) South Carolina (18-3-2) at Columbia, S.C., 1 p.m.
Central Michigan (17-3-3) vs. (2) Notre Dame (17-3-1) at South Bend, Ind., 1 p.m.
Oregon State (13-7-1) vs. (3) Florida (16-5-2) at Columbus, Ohio, 1 p.m.
California (11-8-1) vs. (1) Florida State (17-4-1) at Tallahassee, Fla., 1 p.m.
Texas A&M (15-6-2) vs. (4) Louisiana State (15-4-4) at Baton Rouge, La., 2 p.m.
Wisconsin (10-5-6) vs. (3) UCF (17-4-1) at Madison, Wis., 2 p.m.
Washington (12-5-4) vs. (2) Portland (19-1-0) at Portland, Ore., 3 p.m.
San Diego State (15-3-5) vs. (1) UCLA (18-2-1) at Los Angeles, Calif., 4 p.m.
Oklahoma State (16-7-0) vs. (4) Santa Clara (14-6-1) at Santa Clara, Calif., 7 p.m.