KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Overtime seems to suit the women’s soccer teams of Florida and Tennessee whenever they meet, and Friday night’s Southeastern Conference matchup was no exception.
When the No. 11 Florida women’s soccer team tied Tennessee, 2-2, after two overtimes at the Regal Soccer Stadium, it was the seventh overtime match between these two teams in their last 13 meetings, with UT holding a 3-2-2 advantage in overtime over that span.
Florida (10-4-2, 4-1-2 SEC East) last won a match here on Oct. 15, 1999. Despite that fact, Florida leads the all-time series 10-7-2.
The Gators scored first when freshman Holly King headed in a corner kick from Angela Napolitano. The keeper got a hand on the ball but it was King who was able to get her head on it to put it away at the middle of the goal. It was her second goal of the season.
Ironically, the Gators worked on corner kicks Thursday before departing for Knoxville, and it definitely helped King.
“The ball was in the air and I just headed it in from the center,” King said. “In practice on Thursday we did corners and I was doing really well finishing by heading the ball so I’m really glad that I got it done.”
A bad clearance by the Gator backline led to the Lady Vols tying the match in the 35th minute. Chelsea Hatcher caused the problems and she took advantage of the loose ball to hit a 14-yard shot to the far post corner to beat Florida goalie Katie Fraine.
The Lady Vols scored early in the second half off a corner kick. Senior Mick Imgram served up the corner kick and Florida headed it out to the top of the box. The ball landed at the feet of Julie Edwards who hit her first goal of the season in the 51st minute.
Florida got the tying goal in the 86th minute when sophomore Tahnai Annis put away the pass from Erika Tymrak at the far post corner. The tying goal came off a split second push to get her foot on the ball.
Probably the best Gator chances in the overtime periods came as the seconds ticked down. UT’s Molly Baird was off her line with less than 15 seconds left in the first overtime, but the shot by Lindsay Thompson from 16-yards skimmed above the crossbar. With less than 10 seconds remaining in the second overtime, McKenzie Barney’s pass connected with Annis on the left side of the UT box. She had beat her defender, but Annis’ shot to the far post was stopped by a diving save from Baird.
Florida coach Becky Burleigh was unhappy with the first goal allowed, but liked the way the Gators continued to look for opportunities.
“I thought we dug ourselves in a hole by giving them the first goal but then it was a real scrappy comeback. But you can’t give a goal on the road – not if you expect to win,” Burleigh said. “I was proud of them for the comeback but a little disappointed by the way we let Tennessee have the opportunity to be in the game. To Tennessee’s credit, they worked really hard defensively. They put a lot of pressure on every 50-50 ball and came in hard for every ball. That gave us some problems.”
The Gators visit Georgia (12-2-1, 5-2 SEC) on Sunday at 3 p.m. The Bulldogs handed No. 5 South Carolina its first defeat of the season Friday evening in Athens, Ga., by a 2-1 score.
Elsewhere in the SEC Friday night, Alabama downed Kentucky 2-0; Arkansas defeated Mississippi State 1-0; Auburn blanked Vanderbilt 3-0; and Mississippi and Louisiana State finished 0-0 after two overtimes.