The No.
11 University of Florida soccer team (12-4-1, 9-2 SEC) dropped a 1-0 decision
at Alabama (8-7-2, 3-6-2 SEC) Friday at the Alabama Soccer Stadium. It was the
Tides first win over the Gators in the all-time 19-match series and the loss snapped
Florida’s nine-match win streak.
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Friday’s SEC Scores
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Alabama
1, Florida 0
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Kentucky
1, South Carolina 0
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Arkansas
2, Missouri 1
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Auburn
4, Vanderbilt 1
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Georgia
3, Mississippi State 0
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Tennessee
1, Texas A&M 0
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LSU
3, Mississippi 2 OT
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The
win aids the Tide, as they are now among a three-way tie for ninth in the
overall SEC standings, moving themselves up into a spot which would advance to
the 2012 Southeastern Conference Tournament’s 10-team field.
The
three teams leading the SEC heading into the weekend – Florida, Texas A&M
and Missouri – all lost by a goal Friday. Texas &M lost 1-0 at Tennessee
and Arkansas handed the Tigers a 2-1 loss. The trio still leads the SEC with
two matches remaining in league play, as Florida has 27 points, A&M 25 and
Missouri 24.
The
Tide played an aggressive opening half and showed a high level of confidence,
outshooting the Gators 9-5 in the first 45 minutes. A through ball from Pia
Rijsdijk was scored by Katie Bourgeois from 12 yards at 38:04.
Florida
faced a high-pressure defensive line in the second half and couldn’t break the
puzzle to find the equalizer. In the final 15 minutes, a pair of Gators put
shots on frame but both were saved over the crossbar by Tide goalkeeper Shelby
Church. In the 76th minute, Adriana Leon fed the ball to
fellow junior Caroline Triglia on the left side of the box. Triglia’s
shot from 10 yards was pushed over bar for a Gator corner kick. In the final
minute, senior All-American Erika Tymrak sent a corner kick which
knocked around before Leon took a hard shot from 14 yards. Her shot also was
pushed over bar for a corner, but the Gators couldn’t get another shot off.
Florida
head coach Becky Burleigh said a lack of sharpness hurt the Gators
Friday.
“I
think there was a lot of poor execution on our part. Good effort, but poor
execution,” Burleigh said. “We’ve just got to do better as far as keeping our
width, making sure we execute our passing. I think our passing was a little bit
off.
“When
a team puts a lot of numbers behind the ball we need to find the space out
wide,” she continued. ”When we did find the space out wide, we didn’t get a
good ball in.”
Florida
continues SEC road play Sunday when it meets Vanderbilt (5-8-5, 2-5-4 SEC) in
Nashville, Tenn. Match time is set for 2 p.m. ET at the Vanderbilt Soccer
Complex
and can be seen live on SUN Sports (Gainesville/Ocala Cox Cable 1048). The
Commodores lost 4-1 to Auburn Friday.
