Senior All-American Erika Tymrak provided the No. 18 University
of Florida soccer team (9-3-1, 6-1 SEC) Friday with the game-winning goal in
her first return to action since being sidelined with an ankle sprain Sept. 21.
The Gators posted a 2-0 win over LSU (5-5-4, 1-4-2 SEC) in front of 1,290 at
the LSU Soccer Stadium.
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Friday’s SEC Scores
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Florida
2, LSU 0
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Tennessee
1, South Carolina 0
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Missouri
2, Kentucky 1 OT
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Texas
A&M 5, Alabama 0
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Vanderbilt
3, Arkansas 2 2OT
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Georgia
2, Mississippi 0
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Auburn
2, Mississippi State 0
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Possession was dominated by the Gators for the vast majority
of the match, but it wasn’t until the 74th minute that Florida was
able to break through.
The scoring play started when sophomore Lauren Silver
brought the ball down the left side and sent it right to Tymrak at the top of
the 18-yard box.
“Lauren
was playing outside back and she dribbled it up. She got it to me at the top of
the 18 and I split two defenders and took it end line,” Tymrak said. “I was
face up with the goalie and was waiting for her to make a move. I just picked
my corner and hit far and it went in.”
It was Tymrak’s third goal of the season. She was sidelined
with a left ankle sprain just before halftime of the Sept. 21 Tennessee match
and tonight’s appearance was her first since then.
For the second consecutive match, a Gator goal was scored in
the final minute of the match. Last Sunday, it was Tatiana Perez converting
a penalty kick with 31 seconds on the clock. Tonight, it was fellow sophomore Havana
Solaun bringing the ball down the center of the field to score with just 36
ticks remaining.
The changes LSU made trying to find the tying goal in the
final minutes helped lead to the goal, Solaun said.
“They
were playing really high defense for the last 10 trying to get that goal. That
kind of opened up the field for us,” Solaun said. “They were playing a high
line and Caroline [Triglia] saw me and played me through. Then it was me and
about half the field so I just took it in.”
Solaun
now leads Florida with five goals this season, including three in the last five
matches.
Florida
head coach Becky Burleigh liked the Gators’ defensive effort, as LSU was
limited to three shots for the match.
“I
thought it was a great defensive effort by our team. LSU really had no looks on
goal and we created quite a few opportunities,” Burleigh said. “I was happy we
scored the second goal once the game got stretched out a little bit because
they started to press. I thought we were unlucky to score only two.
“You
have to credit LSU,” she continued. “I thought their goalkeeper made some good
saves and I thought they played hard defensively but I felt it was a matter of
time before we broke them down.”
