An early goal by Mississippi State on their Senior Day gave the Bulldogs a 1-0 win over the No. 11 Florida soccer team (13-4, 6-2 SEC) Sunday afternoon in front of a MSU Soccer Field crowd of 575. It was the Bulldogs second home win this season over a top-25 team, as they registered a 2-0 win over then No. 20 Auburn on Oct. 2.
| Sunday’s Scores from SEC Action | |
| Home | Away |
| Mississippi State 1 | Florida 0 |
| Mississippi 0 | South Carolina 3 |
| Vanderbilt 0 | Tennessee 1 |
| Kentucky 1 | Georgia 2 |
| Alabama 0 | LSU 2 |
| Auburn 3 | Arkansas 0 |
The quickest goal scored against the Gators this season put Florida behind within the first minute. Amy Hoover’s angled ball found Elisabeth Sullivan making a run down the right side of the Florida box. She ran onto the ball and her shot scored at the middle of the goal after just 37 seconds of play.
Opportunities to score were there for the Gators Sunday, as UF recorded 13 shots on goal.
“We created lots of chances, we just didn’t finish. Ultimately, this game is about finishing your chances. They finished their chance and we didn’t finish any of the multitude of chances we had,” UF Head Coach Becky Burleigh said. “In terms of quality, dangerous opportunities, we had a half a dozen – at least. That is enough to win a game.”
Florida did have opportunities for an equalizer in the opening half, recording six shots on goal. In the 24th minute, the Gators were awarded a corner kick. In the play following the kick, the ball found McKenzie Barney at the near post corner, but her shot was high. Just as final ticks of the opening half were coming off the clock, the Gators were awarded a free kick at midfield. The serve into the box by Kathryn Williamson found the head of Caroline Triglia, but her shot was saved out over the goal and the corner kick was waved off as time had expired.
In the second half, UF also had some great looks at the goal. In the 50th minute, Williamson brought the ball into the MSU half. She spied a couple of blue jerseys in the box, but her cross couldn’t find the foot of Annie Speese or McKenzie Barney. Speese later played a ball that both Erika Tymrak and Tahnai Annis had a chance to make a play on. The shot by Annis was blocked. In the 59th minute, Tymrak sent a slanted ball into the box which found Speese unmarked but her shot was blocked. Barney took a shot off the deflection, but it was high. A couple of minutes later, Holly King played a ball down the middle of the box for Annis, but the keeper got to it just before Annis could get a foot on it.
Burleigh thought the Gators didn’t finish as well as the coaching staff wanted on Friday either in UF’s 2-0 win at Mississippi.
“We weren’t very efficient on Friday night either. That is just a matter of having the focus and concentration to finish in front of the goal. If we weren’t creating opportunities, that is a much bigger problem,” Burleigh said. “It is still a problem when you lose a game when you create that many opportunities.
“Mississippi State did a great job of hanging on. Defensively, you couldn’t ask for anything more – they kept the ball out of the net,” she continued. “They held on for 90 minutes under a lot of pressure. That’s impressive.”
MSU’s goalkeeper Skylar Rosson matched her second-highest saves total of the season with 13 on Sunday. UF’s Taylor Burke turned in three saves.
