Florida Ties Mississippi State

Boxscore

The No. 7 University of Florida soccer team (8-3-1, 2-0-1 SEC) opened its Southeastern Conference road play with a 1-1 double overtime tie at Mississippi State (8-2-1, 0-2-1 SEC) Friday evening at the MSU Soccer Field.

Friday’s tie was Florida’s first non-winning result in 23 regular-season SEC matches – a span that began Oct 7, 2007 with a 1-0 home win versus Kentucky.

Junior Kat Walsh, the Bulldogs leading scorer, turned in the first goal of the match. She created just enough space for herself to hit a 14-yard shot, which scored at the far post corner in the 19^th minute. It was her seventh goal of the season.

Florida tied the match in the 85^th minute when the Tricia Townsend was tripped on the left side of the MSU box. For the second Friday in a row, sophomore Lindsay Thompson made good on the penalty kick. She hit the PK near the end of the first overtime period to give UF a 2-1 OT win over Kentucky to open SEC play last Friday. It was the second penalty kick of the match. MSU’s Walsh missed high on her PK attempt in the 17^th minute.

The field showed the effects of the more than 13-inches of rain that Starkville has received in the last week. The heavy rains made the field unplayable for the Sept. 27 Alabama at MSU match, forcing it to be moved to Sept. 29 (Alabama won 1-0).

UF Head Coach Becky Burleigh said the Gators need to learn how to win in any conditions.

“I think we are kind of lucky to come away with a tie, to be honest with you. We really had a tough time with the field conditions and we weren’t able to play our game. I thought they were better at the situation than we were,” Burleigh said.

“We didn’t do what we needed to do given the conditions. That’s not our style of play, but given the conditions, you need to figure a different style of play. You’ve got to find a way to battle through and scrap. I thought Mississippi State did a better job than we did at that,” she continued. “We need to figure out how to win in any condition - whether it’s wet, whether its 100 degrees, whether it is snowing . The bottom line is if we want to win at the highest level, then we have to win at any condition.”

Florida did have some opportunities to score in the run of play. In the 39^th minute, Thompson took a shot from 12 yards which was stopped by MSU goalkeeper Taryn Holland, but no Gator could get to the loose ball in the box. Late in the opening half, Thompson crossed the ball from the endline, but Natalia Torosian’s header at the far post corner was high.

In the 75^th minute, Torosian brought the ball down the left side of the box. Her cross couldn’t quite reach Thompson making a far post run before Holland collected the ball. In the 80^th minute, Angela Napolitano led Thompson with a pass down the middle, but she couldn’t quite get a foot on it before MSU’s keeper gained control.

MSU’s Walsh looked to end the match in the first overtime when she won the ball near the right touchline in the 94^th minute. She brought the ball down to just inside the box but Fraine made the stop. It was just one of a career-high 10 saves by Fraine Friday evening.

The Gators continue play in the Magnolia State when it meets Mississippi (7-2, 1-0 SEC) on Sunday, Oct. 4 at 1 p.m. (ET). The match can be heard live on WRUF AM 850 with a simulcast on Gainesville/Ocala Cox Cable channel 946.