After
all, Jo Dragotta had already supplied some fireworks of her own with her
game-winning goal in the match’s 85th minute, propelling the Gators
(11-3-1, 8-1) to a 2-1 win and their eighth straight victory, giving UF
sole possession of the SEC lead.
Florida
came from behind with first place on the line for the second straight
match, having rallied from a 1-0 deficit last Sunday on the road to
knock off then-No. 5 Texas A&M by the same score.
“I have
to give credit to Missouri for coming in here and really putting their
style of play on us,” UF coach Becky Burleigh said. “But I think in the
second half, we were able to turn that around a little bit and that just
made the biggest difference.”
Dragotta’s
golden goal was the first of her career and third goal of the season.
In her previous three years, the senior from Tampa had not scored a
goal.
“It was real exciting,” said Dragotta, who was taken down hard moments earlier by a Missouri defender.
“Honestly, when the ball came to me, I just wanted to hit it as hard as I could because I was just a little frustrated.”
The
match was a tale of two halves, with Missouri (12-3, 7-2) owning the
first, outshooting UF 8-1 and taking a 1-0 lead to the locker room on
Taiwo Adeshigbin’s goal in the 25th minute.
“Halftime
was a good breather,” Dragotta said. “Becky made us literally all take a
deep breath all at once and just kind of relax, calm down and play like
we can play.”
The results speak for themselves.
The
Gators outshot the Tigers 12-2 after intermission, getting the equalizer
just 7:30 into the second half on a goal by sophomore Annie Speese, her
third goal of the season, following a short pass from senior
All-America Erika Tymrak.
The assist was the 33rd of Tymrak’s career, moving her into fourth place all-time at UF.
Both
teams had chances to take the lead, but none materialized until
Dragotta’s dramatic game-winner, which was made even more special
because her maternal grandmother, who had never seen her play, was in
the stands.
The goal
came off a corner kick, with junior Adriana Leon, who got the assist,
sending a sharp pass along the ground to Dragotta, who was closing from
the left side and drove the ball into the back of the net from 10 yards
out.
“The
credit goes to our (assistant) coach, Alan Kirkup,” Dragotta said. “He
thought up that play and execution is what we’ve been harping on. It was
a perfect ball from Dri, and I all I had to do was hit it.”
The Gators will close out their regular-season home schedule Sunday when they host Mississippi State at 2 p.m. for Senior Day.
“This is a huge win,” Speese said. “It puts us first in the league and gives us a lot of confidence going forward.”
