LEXINGTON, Ky. - A driving rain throughout the first half and into the second 45 minutes didn't slow the seventh ranked Florida Gators offense as they topped the UK women's soccer team (6-3-0, 0-1-0) 2-0 in the league opener for both schools.
The Cats and Gators played a fairly even first half, both teams generating an equal amount of scoring opportunities; however Florida (7-1-1, 1-0-0) owned the second half, netting both goals and outshooting the Wildcats 8-1 in the second frame.
"Well, you first have to give credit to Florida, they are an incredible team," UK head coach Jon Lipsitz said. "I really liked our game-plan. We spent a lot of time this week on it, and I thought we cut out the things that they like to do, so that I liked."
Defensively, Lipsitz like what he saw out of the Wildcats with the exception of two plays.
"We really changed our shape for Florida, and the way we play," Lipsitz said. "That was partly to keep them from getting wide and getting balls behind us. I thought the defense played well, but in critical moments of the game, we gave it away."
The Wildcats mounted their first real threat in the 23rd minute when Kelsey Hunyadi chipped the ball forward to Natalie Horner at the top of the 18-yard box. Horner took a couple steps toward the goal and fired a shot, but it was right at Florida goalie Katie Fraine.
UK had another golden opportunity in the 33rd minute when Caitlin Landis controlled the ball and pushed a pass through the Florida defense over to Taylor Parker who was wide open at the top of the 18-yard box. Parker settled the ball and fired a shot to the right of Fraine, forcing her to dive to her left to knock the ball down and pull it in.
The Gators struck first, wasting no time coming out of the locker room in the second half. Just over a minute into the half, Erika Tymrak took a pass from Tahnai Annis and beat UK goalie Sydney Hiance one-on-one.
Florida added an insurance goal in the 80th minute on an Annis header. The junior midfielder rose high above the crowd and caught a ball rebounding off the crossbar and drove it into the back of the net for the 2-0 final.
Horner paced the Wildcats with two shots, while Jenna Goblirsch and Parker added UK's other two shots.
