Florida Soccer Defeats Auburn

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Florida Soccer Defeats Auburn

Boxscore

Four goals by four different players gave the No. 14 University of Florida soccer team (10-4-1, 4-1-1 SEC) a 4-0 win over Auburn (5-6-3, 2-4 SEC) Sunday afternoon at the James G. Pressly Stadium.

It was Senior Day at Florida soccer so it was appropriate that a pair of goals came from two of UF’s six-member senior class. The first goal started when Jessica Eicken sent the ball from the top of the UF box to Erika Tymrak at midfield. Tymrak played the ball ahead and wide where Angela Napolitano ran onto it. She hit the ball in stride, scoring on a 10-yard shot to the far post.

Lauren Hyde was the other senior to score a goal Sunday, hitting a 23-yard free kick in the 84^th minute.

A reminder from the UF coaching staff helped her score her second Gator goal in front of her family and friends that were in attendance for Senior Day.

“That is about the range I practice them in training. I put the ball down, backed up, took a look at where the keeper was and saw she was pretty far to the right. So knew I needed to get it over the wall and kick it hard. Vic (Campbell, UF Associate Head Coach) told me to “Strike it hard”. I want him to tell me that every time so I remember to hit it hard,” Hyde said. “I just placed it fairly well and it went in the back of the net.”

UF Head Coach Becky Burleigh knows Senior Day is important to all in the Florida soccer program and she was happy with the effort the team showed today.

“It’s awesome that some of the seniors scored today. I had a feeling that Lauren was going to finish the set piece and for Angela to get a goal, that's great,” Burleigh said. “Senior Day is a really big tradition here. It’s a big deal for the players to play hard for the seniors and I thought that the rest of the team did a good job doing that.”

Tymrak added her second goal of the weekend in the 77th minute. Tahnai Annis took a shot just inside the box that was blocked by the AU defense. Tymrak gathered in the deflection at the top of the box, took a couple of touches to make space and then buried her right-footed 15-yard shot into the upper far post corner.

“Tahnai shot it and it kind of ricocheted off. I was standing by the tip of the 18 so I took a touch and then shot it and it went in,” Tymrak said. 

Florida’s fourth goal came just before the final horn. Tymrak sent a lifted ball into the box where McKenzie Barney was able to just get a foot on it before colliding with a Tiger defender. Barney watched from the ground where the two fell as the ball scored at the near post corner at 89:59 – making it the second latest goal in regulation in the 15-year history of the program.

Burleigh said the team was focused on earning better results than it did last weekend when Florida tied at Mississippi State 1-1 2OT and lost 3-2 2OT at Mississippi.

“I think the biggest thing is that we wanted to rebound from last weekend,” Burleigh said. “We felt that last weekend wasn’t a good representation of our team and our team really made a big emphasis in practice this week of trying to get back on track and they did a really good job of that.”

The Gators travel to meet Tennessee (7-5-2, 3-2-1 SEC) on Friday, Oct. 16 at 7 p.m. (ET). The Lady Vols tied Mississippi 1-1 2OT on Sunday. Friday’s match will be broadcast on SUN Sports. The match can also be heard live with Mike Gillespie calling the action on AM 850 WRUF or via simulcast on Gainesville/Ocala Cox Cable channel 946 and www.GatorZone.com.