GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Florida soccer finished its season with a hard-fought 0-0 tie versus No. 13 South Carolina Thursday evening at the Donald R. Dizney Stadium.
Both teams looked for a win to fulfill a Southeastern Conference-centric goal. The tie left both teams empty-handed for those goals.
* A win combined with an Arkansas loss Thursday would have moved South Carolina into a tie with the Razorbacks for the 2023 SEC regular-season title. The one point for South Carolina’s tie tonight couldn’t catch No. 10 Arkansas as the Razorbacks added three points after a 1-0 win versus No. 21 Mississippi State.
* Florida entered Thursday’s match tied with Tennessee for 11th – one spot away from being among the SEC Tournament’s 10-team field. A win would have put UF into the SEC Tournament field. The point from the tie added to Florida’s total but UF needed losses by Tennessee and LSU tonight to slide into the tournament field. Both UT (1-0 win at Vanderbilt) and LSU (0-0 tie vs Texas A&M) gained points Thursday to stay ahead of Florida and take the final two tournament spots.
After scoring just one point in 2022 SEC play, the Gators tallied 10 in 2023, which included closing the season on a three-match unbeaten stretch.
Thursday’s Match:
The shots were almost even Thursday, with Florida taking a slight 8-7 advantage. Both team saved their most dramatic attempts for the final minutes.
With less than six minutes remaining, UF’s Lena Bailey looked to recreate Sunday’s late tying goal at Vanderbilt. Just like Sunday, Bailey sent a deep cross to the near post where fellow freshman Megan Hinnenkamp was waiting. South Carolina’s goalkeeper got a touch on the ball but could gather it in. Defender Hallie Meadows just got a foot on it just before Hinnenkamp could get the scoring touch on it.
With less than 12 seconds left, USC played the ball into the box for the Gamecock’s scoring leader Catherine Barry. She sent the ball to the far post, but the offsides flag nullified the goal.
Florida Senior Night
Florida three-member senior class – Tessa Barton, Molly Grant and Maddy Rhodes – were celebrated Thursday in a post-match ceremony.
The two returning Gators (Barton and Rhodes) earned SEC Academic Honor Roll accolades. All three have UF commencements on the horizon – Barton / December 2023 and Grant & Rhodes / summer 2024.
Hear from Coach Bohon:
On this evening’s performance:
“They knew what was on the line tonight. They came out really focused, really clear on how we were trying to play. You had two teams trying to not lose. We’re trying to push at the end to see if we could get the winner because I know that we kind of needed some help to advance to the SEC Tournament but really at the end of the day, all we can ask our players is to empty their tank and to feel satisfied in terms of the effort. We’re just disappointed that we couldn’t put one in the back of the net ” – Florida Head Coach Samantha Bohon
Records:
Florida: 6-5-6, 2-4-4 SEC
USC: 11-1-6, 5-0-5 SEC
Series Record:
Florida leads 22-12-3
No. 13 South Carolina (11-1-6, 5-0-5 SEC) at Florida (6-5-6, 2-4-4 SEC)
Stadium: Donald R. Dizney Stadium (810)
Weather: 75 degrees, winds ENE at 8 mph
Goals by Period
1
20
Total
South Carolina
0
0
0
Florida
0
0
0
Scoring Summary:
No.
Time
Team
Goal Scorer
Assist
1.
Shots: USC 7, UF 8
Saves: USC 3 (Heather Hinz 3), Florida 3 (Alexa Goldberg 3)
Offsides: USC 5, UF 1
Cautions:
Cuyler Zulauf-USC – yellow (83:27)
