GAINESVILLE – The calm, steady stream of rain before Friday night’s match wasn’t enough to slow down the No. 9 Florida soccer team, which scored all of its goals in the first 14 minutes of the match to defeat Florida Atlantic, 3-0, before 1,439 fans at the James G. Pressly Stadium.
Florida (3-0) is home Sunday at Pressly Stadium to play host to San Diego State at 1:30 p.m. The defending Mountain West Conference champion Aztecs (1-2) dropped a 2-0 decision to UCF Friday.
The Owls (0-2) had no answer for the Gators’ speed and versatility on offense. Three different Gators scored in the first 14 minutes and the Owls were so busy defending, they could only muster two shots on goal in the first half compared to the 11 shots on goal Florida had.
“I thought it showed a lot of maturity in our team for them to start out very quickly,” Florida coach Becky Burleigh said. “We knew that this was going to be a tough team to break down defensively, but we also knew the quickest way we could do that is get on the board early.”
Redshirt sophomore McKenzie Barney drew first blood three minutes in for her second goal of the season. Junior Tahnai Annis backheeled the ball to freshman Taylor Travis, who threaded a pass between two defenders to Barney. Her shot from seven yards out went off goalie Ashley Lantes’ hand into the back of the net. It marked Barney’s fifth consecutive home appearance with a goal.
“We knew that if we scored an early goal, it would open the floodgates,” Barney said. “The first 10 minutes, we turned around and we were like “All right, we’re in the fourth minute, we gotta get one — we only have six minutes left.’ It was a legit goal we were trying to accomplish.”
Annis scored her own goal three minutes later on a cross from Nicky Kit that left Annis with a three-yard header at the far post. It was the third goal this season for Annis, the SEC Offensive Player of the Week after she scored both goals in a 2-0 win over No. 25 UCF last Sunday.
After back-to-back corner kicks, Florida finished its scoring for the evening in the 14th minute with a tap-in rebound goal by sophomore Natalia Torosian, who successfully followed the deflection off the post of her first shot.
Despite their lead, the Gators stayed on the offensive and finished with 21 shots on goal — their most this season. Florida kept up the pressure, knowing that the Owls had rallied from a 3-0 deficit last week against Stetson.
“We mentioned that fact and the big thing for us was just to make sure that we kept doing the things that got us there,” Burleigh said.
The Owls couldn’t find any spark in the second half — their four shots are the fewest for a Florida opponent this season. Florida’s Katie Fraine recorded three saves. Lantes, FAU’s starting goalkeeper, turned in one save. She was replaced by Courtney Zwetsch in the 19th minute and Zwetsch had seven saves.
No. 9 FLORIDA 3, FLORIDA ATLANTIC 0
At James G. Pressly Stadium, Gainesville
Florida Atlantic 0 0—0
Florida 3 0—3
Scoring
UF – McKenzie Barney (Taylor Travis, Tahnai Annis) 3:27.
UF – Annis (Nicky Kit) 6:41.
UF – Natalia Torosian (unassisted) 13:08.
Goalkeepers
FAU, Ashley Lantes (18:20, 1 save, 3 goals allowed) and Courtney Zwetsch (71:40, 7 saves, 0 goals allowed); Florida, Katie Fraine (90:00, 3 saves, 0 goals allowed).
Statistics
Shots: FAU 4, Florida 21; Shots on goal: FAU 3, Florida 11; Saves: FAU 8, Florida 3; Corner kicks: FAU 0, Florida 7; Fouls: FAU 7, Florida 5; Offsides: FAU 1, Florida 2; Yellow cards: Alicia Nalley (Florida) 40:04; Emily Kelly (FAU) 74:55.