GAINESVILLE, Fla. – It was a hard-fought match, but it was defending Southeastern Conference Tournament champion Tennessee taking a 2-1 win over Florida Friday evening at the Donald R. Dizney Stadium to open league play.
The message that this would be a battle was sent front the very start when Florida drove toward goal. Junior Julianne Leskauskas intercepted a clearance attempt in the box and took a shot just 16 seconds in, but UT’s Lindsey Romig made the stop. It was the first of nine saves for Romig – increasing her season saves high by six .
“I thought our performance was pretty strong for 90 minutes. This shows the difference of winning and losing is really small,” Florida Head Coach Samantha Bohon said. “Some key plays went their way in the first half and we created a ton of opportunities in the end.
“Their keeper made some big -time saves. She should get a good ice bath today because it was a really impressive performance from her. I told our players it’s not that I felt like we lost the game. I thought she just really won the game for them.
“I’m really happy with the effort. I’m really happy with the execution. I’m really happy with our staff because I thought our game plan was spot on. Hopefully this gives us some momentum even though we didn’t get the result of how we can play as we go into the rest of this SEC schedule.”
Tennessee is receiving votes in the latest United Soccer Coaches poll<https://unitedsoccercoaches.org/rankings/college-rankings/ncaa-di-women/>.
Friday’s scoring:
Tennessee opened the scoring in the 19th minute. Jaida Thomas brought the ball inside the box and sent it back to the top for Mackenzie George. She took a touch before scoring on a right-footed 16-yard shot to the near post.
Florida was whistled for a foul deep in the box, giving UT a penalty kick. Claudia Dipasupil successfully converted the kick from the spot in the 31st minute.
The first collegiate goal for sophomore Maddy Pirrello cut the Lady Vols lead to one in the 70th minute. A Gator corner kick found Oakley Rasmussen in the box. She headed the ball toward Pirrello, located center of the six-yard box. Her shot scored from four yards.
Did You Know?
* Maddy Pirrello is the 25th in Florida soccer’s 28 season history to score their first collegiate goal in their first collegiate start. She is second Gators to join that list this season, as Tessa Barton scored her first Gator goal at Texas.
* Florida is now 20-5-3 all time in SEC home openers.
* The Gators wore SEC 50th Anniversary of Title IX shirts to warm up for tonight’s match. All men and women league teams will wear the warm-up shirt at some point in the 2022-23 season.
Records:
Florida: 2-6-0, 0-1 SEC
Tennessee: 5-2-1, 1-0 SEC
Series Record:
Florida leads 18-14-3
Next Up:
Florida meets its first ranked league opponent – No. 15 Mississippi – when it starts road SEC action next Thursday. The Rebels opened SEC action Friday with a 2-1 win at Kentucky.
Thursday, Sept. 22 at No. 15 Mississippi (7-0-2, 0-0 SEC)
Time/Site: 7 p.m. ET at Ole Miss Soccer Stadium<https://olemisssports.com/sports/2018/7/20/facilities-ole-facilities-soccer-stadium-html.aspx>
Stream: SEC Network +<https://www.espn.com/watch/player/_/id/daa23c59-0aae-4b82-b072-abd8d88e156c>
Live Stats<http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=412630&vislive=fla>
Tickets: Free
Tennessee (5-2-1, 0-0 SEC) at Florida (2-6-0, SEC 0-0-0)
Stadium: Donald R. Dizney Stadium (570)
Weather: 78 degrees, cloudy, winds ENE 7 mph
Goals by Period
1
2
Total
Tennessee
2
0
2
Florida
0
1
1
Scoring Summary:
No.
Time
Team
Goal Scorer
Assist
1.
18:34
UT
Mackenzie George
Jaida Thomas
2.
30:34
UT
Claudia Dipasupil
PK
3.
69:05
UF
Maddy Pirrello
Oakley Rasmussen
Shots: Tennessee 12, Florida 14
Saves: Tennessee 9 (Lindsey Romig 9), Florida 4 (Alexa Goldberg 4)
Offsides: UT 3, UF 1
Cautions: UF Bench 45:00 (yellow); Lauren McCloskey-UF 60:09 (yellow)
