After a difficult road trip last week, tying at Alabama and losing at Auburn, the 13th-ranked Florida Gators soccer team returned home to James G. Pressly Stadium looking to right the season Friday afternoon. After a slow start, the Gators scored three goals in five minutes on way to a 4-2 victory over Tennessee.
But any doubt was quickly erased in the first half as the No. 13-ranked Gators (11-2-2, 5-1-1 Southeastern Conference) mounted a three-goal lead in a matter of five minutes en route to a 4-2 victory.
“I thought there were some really good goals, the finishing was efficient and at this point to get the three points (for a conference win) is the first part of the weekend,” Florida coach Becky Burleigh said after her team moved to 11-2-2 overall and 5-1-1 in the SEC Eastern Division.
The Lady Volunteers (7-7-1, 4-2-1 SEC) controlled the opening minutes of the match and Florida seemed to be suffering from a hangover.
“The good thing about it was we didn’t start strong, but we didn’t panic,” Burleigh said. “We were able to weather that and then go on that stretch.”
Junior Tahnai Annis opening the scoring in the 27th minute, taking a feed from junior Jazmyne Avant to put Florida up 1-0. Two minutes later, sophomore Erika Tymrak dribbled around a defender and toward the goal where she found Lindsay Thompson, who tipped it past Tennessee goalie Molly Baird.
Thompson made it 3-0 in the 32nd minute on feeds from freshman Taylor Travis and Annis. It was her fourth two-goal match of her career.
“The whole week we worked on shooting and finishing,” Tymrak said. “We actually came to practice early just to finish and work on scoring and crossing. Our practice revolved around attacking.”
Tennessee made it interesting in the second half when Chelsea Hatcher scored the first of her two goals in the 50th minute, taking a pass from Emily Dowd that split a pair of Florida defenders. Hatcher finished the play off by firing the ball past Gators goalkeeper Katie Fraine.
But the Gators responded in the 53rd minute when Travis made a crossing pass to Annis, who headed the ball into the lower right corner of the net. Annis now has four two-goal matches in her career and she also leads Florida with 10 goals this season. Hatcher, however, cut the Florida lead to 4-2 in the 56th minute when she stole the ball and scored on a deflection.
“They did well with our errors,” said redshirt senior Ashlee Elliott, who turned 22 on Friday. “They put us away when we were on our heels. The transition wasn’t fast enough by us.”
Tennessee outshot Florida 16-11 and it’s only the second Florida has allowed two goals this season. The Gators gave up two in a 2-0 loss to then top-ranked North Carolina on Sept. 19.
“We’re definitely confident because we got four goals,” Tymrak said. “We’re going to go into Georgia confident, but we gotta go hard and make sure we come out with a win.”
No. 21 Georgia (9-2-4, 4-0-3 SEC East) comes into Sunday’s 2 p.m. contest after beating South Carolina 1-0. Sunday is Senior Day and Florida’s three seniors—Elliott, Fraine and Nicky Kit—will be honored in a pre-match ceremony. The match airs live on CSS.
Information in this report was provided by UF Communications’ Eugenio Torrens
FLORIDA 4, TENNESSEE 2
At Gainesville, Fla. / James G. Pressley Stadium / Friday, Oct. 15, 2010
Scoring 1 2—Total
Tennessee 0 2—2
Florida 3 1—4
1. UF: Tahnai Annis (Jazmyne Avant) 26:26
2. UF: Lindsay Thompson (Erika Tymrak) 28:47
3. UF: Thompson (Taylor Travis, Annis) 31:11
4. UT: Chelsea Hatcher (Emily Dowd) 49:01
5. UF: Annis (Travis) 52:47
6. UT: Hatcher (unassisted) 55:44
Goalkeepers Mins Sv G
Molly Baird (UT) 90:00 2 4
Katie Fraine (UF) 90:00 4 2
Statistics UT UF
Shots 17 11
Shots on goal 7 6
Saves 2 5
Corner Kicks 7 3
Fouls 17 16
Offside 1 1
Cautions: Emily Shore (UT) 61:20, Sarah Chapman (UF) 86:38.
SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE STANDINGS
EASTERN DIVISION SEC (Pts)/Overall
(13) Florida 5-1-1 (16)/11-2-2
(14) South Carolina 5-1-1 (16)/11-3-2
(21) Georgia 4-0-3 (15)/9-2-4
Tennessee 4-2-1 (13)/7-7-1
Vanderbilt 2-3-2 (8)/6-7-2
Kentucky 2-4-1 (7)/8-6-1
WESTERN DIVISION SEC/Overall
Alabama 3-2-2 (11)/8-4-2
Auburn 3-3-1 (10)/9-5-1
Louisiana State 2-2-3 (9)/5-6-4
Arkansas 2-4-1 (7)/5-8-2
Mississippi 1-4-2 (5)/5-8-3
Mississippi State 0-7-0 (0)/7-9-0
RESULTS
Friday / Oct. 15
Florida 4, Tennessee 2
Kentucky 3, Alabama 1
Auburn 1, Vanderbilt 1 (2OT)
Georgia 1, South Carolina 0
Louisiana State 0, Mississippi 0 (2OT)
Arkansas 4, Mississippi State 0
SCHEDULE
Sunday / Oct. 17
Georgia at Florida, 2 p.m. (CSS)
Tennessee at South Carolina, 1 p.m. (ESPNU)
Louisiana State at Mississippi State, 2 p.m.
Arkansas at Mississippi, 2 p.m.
Auburn at Kentucky, 2 p.m.
Alabama at Vanderbilt, 2 p.m.
Thursday / Oct. 21
Florida at Louisiana State, 8 p.m.
Georgia at Alabama, 8 p.m.
South Carolina at Arkansas, 8 p.m.
Tennessee at Auburn, 8 p.m.
Vanderbilt at Mississippi State, 8 p.m.
Kentucky at Mississippi, 8 p.m.
Sunday / Oct. 24
Arkansas at Florida, 1:30 p.m.
Auburn at Georgia, 1 p.m. (FSN)
Alabama at Tennessee, 2 p.m. (CSS)
Mississippi State at Kentucky, 2:30 p.m.
Mississippi at Vanderbilt, 3 p.m.
Louisiana State at South Carolina, 3 p.m. (ESPNU)
For the latest National Soccer Coaches Association of America Division I poll, click below:
http://www.ncaa.com/sports/w-soccer/division_i1.html
For the latest 2010 RPI rankings, click below:
http://web1.ncaa.org/app_data/weeklyrpi/2010WSOrpi1.html