No. 15 Florida Soccer Comes From Two Goals Down to Post 3-2 2OT Win at Kentucky

10/5/08

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Another Southeastern Conference road match and again, a dramatic finish was needed for the Gator soccer team. This time, freshman Lindsay Thompson scored the golden goal in the 103rd minute to give the No. 15 Florida soccer team (9-2-1, 4-0 SEC) its second overtime win of the weekend. Florida came from two-goal first half deficit to defeat Kentucky (3-7-2, 1-2-1 SEC) 3-2 2OT Sunday afternoon in front of a Lexington Soccer Complex crowd of 927.

Florida is 4-0 in league play, with three of those wins coming in overtime. Sunday’s game winning goal came when Thompson’s 15-yard shot scored just inside the near post.

“The goalkeeper kicked a goal kick and Liz (Ruberry) won the header. The header went right in my running path – it was the perfect ball,”
Thompson said.” I just touched it, looked up, picked my spot and hit it.
I was thinking ‘Please go in!””

It was the fourth goal for Thompson this season and the first game-winner.

Coming from behind seemed to be the theme of the weekend for the Gators.
Florida won 4-3 OT at Vanderbilt Friday evening. In that match, Florida only took the lead when Jessica Eicken scored the game-winning goal in the 95th minute.

In today’s match, Kentucky took a 2-0 lead after the first 45 minutes, the largest halftime lead allowed by the Gators this season. Kate Hughes headed in Kristin Kover’s corner kick at 7:10 to give UK the early lead.
Later in the half, the Wildcats threaded together some passes on a counter attack, with Nicola Holdsworth finding Giuleana Lopez alone in the box. Lopez scored from 15 yards on her 1v1 opportunity in the 38th minute and then raced along the touchline doing the Gator chomp.

Despite the first-half deficit, UF Head Coach Becky Burleigh said they knew they were still in the match.

“(At halftime) we knew that if we could have a little composure, we were going to score. And we knew if we got one (goal), we were going to win the game,” Burleigh said. “This team again showed the character to battle back. The problem is that we don’t want to continue to get ourselves in this position but you have to admire the grittiness of this team in terms of their ability to never say die.

Florida scored twice in just over the span of minute to tie the match.
The first goal came when freshman Tahnai Annis won the ball from a pair of UK defenders at the top of the Wildcat box. Annis just chipped the ball into the empty goal for her fifth goal of the season at 65:27. Just over a minute later, the Gators were on the attack again. The ball crossed by Ameera Abdullah in front of the goal mouth found Nicky Kit at the far post. Kit scored from short range at 66:38 for the first goal of her collegiate career.

The Gators had an excellent look late in regulation to get the go-ahead goal. In the 79th minute, Megan Kerns brought the ball down the middle and played a ball to Abdullah, who was able to beat two UK defenders and get a 10-yard shot off in the box. UK goalkeeper Sydney Hiance was able to make a one-handed deflection, but no Gators were making a run in the box to put the loose ball in.

For the match, Florida edged the Wildcats in shots 13-11. UF’s Katie Fraine and UK’s Hiance each recorded four saves Sunday.

Next up, Florida returns home to play host to its first SEC Western Division rival when Mississippi comes to town. Match time is set for 8 p.m. (ET) at the James G. Pressly Stadium. The Rebels are coming off a
2-1 win at Alabama Sunday. A commemorative poster of Florida’s 1998 NCAA Championship title team will be given tot the first 1,000 fans at Friday’s match and members of the 1998 team will be available for autographs. The match can be heard live on www.GatorZone.com with Adam Schick and Matthew Stubbington covering the action.


Scoring Summary: 1st 2nd OT1 OT2 Final
Florida 0 2 0 0 1 3
Kentucky 2 0 0 0 0 2

Scoring:
UK – Kate Hughes (Kristin Kover) 7:10
UK – Giuleana Lopez (Kover, Nicola Holdsworth) UF – Tahnai Annis (unassisted) 65:27 UF – Nicky Kit (Ameera Abdullah) 66:38 UF – Lindsay Thompson (Liz Ruberry) 102:27

Goalkeepers:
Minutes Saves GA
Florida Katie Fraine 102:27 4 3
Kentucky Sydney Hiance 102:27 4 2

Statistical Summary: UF UK
Shots 13 11
Shots on goal 7 7
Saves 5 4
Corner Kicks 5 7
Fouls 9 14
Offside 1 2