A come-from-behind effort fell short, as No. 23 UF (16-7, 7-4 SEC) lost 3-2 to Auburn (14-6-2, 5-5-1 SEC) in the Southeastern Conference Tournament championship match, held Sunday in front of an Orange Beach SportsPlex crowd of 1,444. The two teams played to the same score just a month ago in Gainesville, with Florida taking the 3-2 overtime win.
The tournament title is the first for Auburn. As the No. 7 seed, AU becomes the lowest seed ever to claim the tournament title. As the champion, Auburn takes the SEC’s automatic berth into the NCAA Championship.
“I’m disappointed because I thought in the first two games of the tournament, we brought a great physical presence defensively and in this game, we were not able to match that,” Florida coach Becky Burleigh said.
Florida now returns home to await the announcement of the NCAA Soccer Championships field. The 64-team field is set to be revealed today at 4:30 p.m. at NCAA.com.
