Gator freshman Havana Solaun calmly headed in the game-winner early in extra minutes as the No. 13 Florida soccer team (14-4, 7-2 SEC) claimed a 2-1 overtime win at Arkansas (4-12, 2-7 SEC) Thursday evening in front of a Razorback Field crowd of 1,098.
| Thursday’s result is the seventh of the last nine meetings between Florida and Arkansas that was decided by a single goal. | |||
| Last Eight Florida-Arkansas Results | |||
| Date | Site | Result | Score |
| 10/13/02 | H | W | 2-1 |
| 10/24/04 | H | W | 2-1 |
| 10/23/05 | A | W | 1-0 |
| 10/20/06 | H | W | 1-0 (2OT) |
| 10/25/07 | A | W | 1-0 |
| 10/23/08 | H | W | 3-0 |
| 10/25/09 | A | W | 1-0 |
| 10/24/10 | H | W | 3-1 |
| 10/20/11 | A | W | 2-1 (OT) |
Again the Gators found themselves trailing after an early goal. Arkansas’ Allie Chandler scored just three minutes in when her shot to the far post hit the hardware and kicked in.
The Gators were undone by a goal in the first minute in Sunday’s match at Mississippi State, as the Gators lost 1-0 despite putting 13 shots on goal.
The Razorbacks put numbers behind the ball to try to sit on the early lead.
“That game started out a little bit like Groundhog’s Day,” UF Head Coach Becky Burleigh said. “It was a very, very difficult bunker to penetrate. They were going to sit on that lead by putting numbers in their box. So for us, it was a matter of keeping possession of the ball, trying to get the ball out wide and trying to serve balls in. That’s not an easy game to play. We were in the same position on Sunday and we couldn’t get a goal so I was happy to see us turn things around today.”
The Gators were held scoreless for the first 80 minutes, but a pair of roommates on this road trip turned in the tying and golden goals in a 13-minute span.
| Thursday’s Scores from SEC Action | |
| Home | Away |
| Arkansas 1 | Florida 2 OT |
| LSU 1 | South Carolina 4 |
| Auburn 0 | Georgia 0 2OT |
| Mississippi 3 | Vanderbilt 0 |
| Mississippi State 0 | Kentucky 2 |
| Alabama 1 | Tennessee 0 |
The Gators were awarded a free kick just wide of the box in the 79th minute. Freshman Annie Speese sent the free kick toward the end line where junior Jo Dragotta ran onto it and sent the ball across the box. Another junior, Brooke Thigpen, was there to put in her first goal of the season.
“It was a smart play – Jo (Dragotta) was out there and I believe Annie (Speese) was with her,” Thigpen said. “It was really smart play because they noticed that only one person was out there defending them so they played it short. Jo got down to the end line and served a great ball on the ground right across the six. Kat (Williamson) dummied it and I was right there at the end of it.”
The match was pushed to overtime for the third time in the all-time 16-match series. The golden goal came when Lindsay Thompson, deep in the Razorback half, sent a centering pass to the far post where Solaun headed it in.
“Lindsay Thompson got the ball played through and she took it down line pretty much all the way to the end line,” Solaun said. “She served a great ball right to me and I just kind of ran through it to finish it at the bottom corner.”
Both teams seemed a bit uncertain if the goal was scored, perhaps remembering Thompson’s goal in the 40th minute which was disallowed after it was ruled off sides.
“At first, everyone was silent because it seemed everyone was staring at each other. We weren’t sure if it was a goal or not,” Solaun said. “Once we realized it was a goal, then everyone ran onto the field. It was awesome.”
The goal was the third for Solaun in the span of a week, as she turned in her first double-goal match last Friday in Florida’s 2-0 win at Mississippi. She is third among the Gators with six goals on the season.
