No. 13 Florida Soccer Team Opens Season Friday with Home Match versus Indiana

8/31/07

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Two soccer teams meeting for the first time open the 2007 season Friday, Aug. 31 when preseason No. 13 Florida plays host to Indiana. Match time is set for 7 p.m. at the James G. Pressly Stadium and admission is free. The first 2,500 fans at Friday’s season opener receive a 2007 Gator soccer team poster and the Florida team will be available for autographs post-match.

Indiana is the only first-time opponent for the Gators this season.
Last season, Florida posted a record of 14-6-5, won its seventh Southeastern Conference team title with its 7-1-3 league record and advanced to the NCAA Round of 16 (losing 3-2 at UCLA). In 2006, Indiana posted a record of 9-7-4 and finished fourth in the Big Ten with its
5-4-1 league record. Florida is the preseason pick to win the 2007 SEC title. Indiana was picked to place sixth in the Big Ten's preseason poll.

The Gators will be tested early this season. Including the exhibition match versus No. 5 Texas A&M held last Saturday at Pressly Stadium (UF 3, TAMU 1), Florida meets half of the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) preseason top-six teams by Sept. 9.
Florida plays host to No. 2 Notre Dame Sept. 2 and No. 6 Florida State Sept. 9. Florida meets two other teams listed on the NSCAA preseason top
25 - at No. 20 Illinois (Sept. 14) and at No. 24 Tennessee (Sept. 30).
Florida is No. 13 on the preseason poll, marking the 11th consecutive season that the Gators appear in the NSCAA preseason list.

Florida returns 10 starters from 2006, not including senior All-American Melanie Booth. Booth sat out the 2006 season due to commitments with the Canadian National Team. She will miss at least the first three weeks of the 2007 season as she competes with Canada at the FIFA Women's World Cup in China.

The Gators scored 47 goals in 2006 and the team returns the scorers for
45 of those goals. Senior Stacy Bishop led the Gators with 12 goals, 6 assists and 30 points in 2006. She was followed closely by junior Ameera Abdullah with 11 goals and 24 points. Joining Bishop and Abdullah on the
2006 Southeastern Conference first team is sophomore defender Lauren Hyde, who led the 2006 Gators from her center back position in total minutes played. Junior Megan Kerns and senior Ashley Harris each earned All-SEC second team honors in 2005. Kerns turned in four goals and 10 points last season despite coming off an anterior cruciate ligament injury suffered in spring of 2006. Harris started every match last season, appearing on the Gator backline or at wide midfield. She turned in the first three goals of her collegiate career in 2006.

Friday’s match can be heard live on WRUF-AM 850. Live, streaming video can be seen at www.GatorZone.com - just click on the GatorVision icon for more information. Christian Bruey and Matthew Stubbington will cover the action Friday.