No. 7 Florida Soccer Team Plays Host to No. 5 Florida State Friday

9/17/09

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- The No. 7 University of Florida soccer team (5-2, 0-0 SEC) plays host to No. 5 Florida State (6-1, 0-0 ACC) on Friday, Sept. 18. Match time is set for 7 p.m. at the James G. Pressly Stadium.
The first 1,000 fans at Friday’s match receive a “Beat FSU”
t-shirt, compliments of Gatorade. Admission is free for all 2009 Gator soccer regular-season matches.

Fans are encouraged to bring canned goods to donate to the second annual Gators Canned Goods Challenge for Kids. UF Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) members will be present Friday to take the canned goods, which will be donated to the Bread of the Mighty Food Bank of Gainesville.

This is the 17th meeting between the two teams and the first time both teams bring a top-10 national ranking. Florida State won the 2005 and
2006 meetings and Florida has taken the last two, including a 1-0 win in
2008 in Tallahassee.

The Gators turned in a pair of home wins last weekend, defeating Duke
2-1 and No. 20 Colorado 3-1. Sophomore Lindsay Thompson scored in both matches and freshman Brooke Thigpen turned in a goal and an assist (vs.
Duke) and an assist (vs. Colorado) last weekend. Thigpen was named the Southeastern Conference Freshman of the Week on Monday. Freshman Holly King used a 25-yard left-footed strike to score her first collegiate goal versus Colorado and fellow freshman Erika Tymrak scored the game-winning goal versus Colorado. FSU is the fourth opponent that brings a national ranking into the match with Florida. The Gators opened the season with a 1-0 win at Miami, ranked No. 26 in TopDrawerSoccer.com’s Preseason poll. UF lost 3-0 to then No. 9 UCLA on Sept. 6 in Champaign, Ill., and defeated No. 20 Colorado 3-1 on Sept.
13.

Florida is the third ranked opponent for the Seminoles this season. FSU defeated then No. 13 Penn State 2-1 in Tallahassee on Sept. 4. Last week, FSU lost 1-0 2OT at UCF on Sept. 10 and bounced back with an 8-0 home victory over Alabama-Birmingham (then ranked No. 24 by Soccer
America) on Sept. 13. Redshirt sophomore Jessica Price leads FSU with six goals and six assists. FSU senior Becky Edwards and junior Amanda DaCosta both appear on both the Soccer America preseason All-America and Missouri Athletics Club (MAC) Hermann Trophy watch list. Edwards joins Florida’s Lauren Hyde among the 30 candidates for the 2009 Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award. FSU turned in a 17-3-3 record in 2008 and lost 2-0 at Notre Dame in NCAA Elite Eight play.

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