No. 2 region seed Florida (17-8, 7-4 SEC) saw its season come to an end on a chilly Friday evening, as UCF (13-4-5, 6-2-3 C-USA) took a 3-2 win in NCAA Soccer Second Round action in front of a James G. Pressly Stadium crowd of 1,052.
The Knights now advance to play No. 3 region seed North Carolina, which was a 5-0 winner over Baylor in the first match Friday at the Gainesville site. That match is set for 1 p.m. Sunday at Pressly Stadium.
This was the sixth meeting between these two in-state rivals in NCAA play and tonight’s win closes the gap to a 3-2-1 all-time advantage for the Gators. After five consecutive seasons concluding in the NCAA Second Round, UCF advances to its first Round of 16 match since 1987. The loss ends Florida’s season for the third straight year in the NCAA Second Round.
The Knights struck first early in the match, scoring off a free kick. Tishia Jewell sent the ball from 25 yards into the center of the box. It took a bounce and freshman Madison Barney, the younger sister of Florida redshirt junior McKenzie Barney, got a foot on it to score her first collegiate goal in the sixth minute.
Gator senior All-American Tahnai Annis tied the match with a header in the 24th minute. The play started when Erika Tymrak received the ball at the top of the Knight defensive third from Jo Dragotta. She successfully evaded several attempts to take the ball as she moved down through the Knight box, sending a cross across the mouth of the goal just before she got to the end line. Annis headed in the ball for her 10th goal of the season.
“I saw Erika (Tymrak) get the ball, and I think she got it over on the right side and dribbled over to the left. I was just patient with it and didn’t try to get myself in a position where I was running over her face or anything,” Annis said. “I knew she would find her opening and she did and I was just waiting at the far post to head it in.”
It was the third goal in 2011 NCAA play for Annis as she hit the first two goals in the Gators’ 3-0 win versus Florida Gulf Coast last Saturday.
UCF scored its second goal of the half in the 34th minute. The Knights brought the ball down the left side of the field from their half and switch fields soon after crossing the center line. Bianca Joswiak sent a ball straight down the field to Kristina Trujic located 20 yards above the end line. Trujic spun to her left, took a couple of touches before sending a ball from just above the box. The ball hit the upper part of the far post and kicked in for her third goal of 2011.
A controversial goal in the 72nd minute gave the Knights a 3-1 margin. Stacie Hubbard played a ball from the top of the Knight half into space. Nicolette Radovcic ran onto the rolling ball and scored her team-leading eighth goal of the season from five yards. The Florida players and coaching staff thought the goal was off-sides and their protests resulted in a pair of yellow cards.
Florida had chances to score in the second half, including a pair of nearly identical situations where the ball was played into the box, finding a Gator with space but their shot to the far post was just a hair too far. But UF Head Coach Becky Burleigh felt a chance was coming for a set play so she reinserted freshman Annie Speese into the match in the 83rd minute.
Speese’s chance came just over two minutes later when Florida was awarded a 23-yard free kick. She sent a left-footed ball diving ball which scored just inside the near post. It was her eighth goal of the season.
“That was a sweet goal. We actually put her in just for that reason (to try to score off a set piece), because we knew that it was going to get a little crazy at the end and there was a chance that we would get a great set piece opportunity,” Burleigh said. “That’s been her thing and we did get that chance, and she stuck it, which was awesome.”
Unfortunately, Speese was suffered a right knee sprain just over a minute later. She will be examined by team doctors early next week.
Although obviously disappointed in the loss, Burleigh liked the effort this team has shown this season.
“It was obviously a very disappointing way for us to finish, but in saying that, I told our team at the end that I’ve really enjoyed working with this team since the day we started in August until now. That has nothing to do with this result or any other result this season,” Burleigh said. “They have been a great group of people to work with and they’ve done everything we asked of them and worked hard, and I think they left it all on the field tonight.”
