Florida Gators

The No. 21 University of Florida soccer team (8-4-2, 4-1-1 SEC) and Kentucky (7-5-2, 2-2-1 SEC) played to a scoreless tie Sunday afternoon in front of a UK Soccer Complex crowd of 541. It was the second consecutive shutout for the Gators and the third consecutive for the Wildcats.

“I'm really disappointed with the tie. It was a great defensive effort for the whole weekend with the two shutouts and that's a good stat for us,” UF Head Coach Becky Burleigh said. “But offensively, we've got to get better against teams that sit in. We need to find a way to finish against teams that bunker. We are not doing a good job of that right now.”

Perhaps the Gators' most dangerous scoring opportunity of the opening half came in the final minute of the half. Freshman defender Lauren Hyde pushed the ball up from the Florida half into the UK half and passed to Stacy Bishop at the top of the box. She tapped it out to try to find Katie Green who was making a run in the box, but UK's goalkeeper Anne Ogundale covered the ball just before Green could take a shot.

Florida saw another excellent opportunity in the second half again thwarted by Ogundale. In the final eight minutes of regulation, Bishop crossed the ball from the endline to the center of the box where Angela Napolitano and Bianca Gibbs were ready to take a shot, but Ogundale was able to collect the cross before they could make contact.

The Wildcats' best opportunity of the second half came in the 79^th minute when Megan Jones made a cross deep in the Florida half. Kristin Kover took the shot in the box, but Brittni Goodwin made the save on the eight-yard shot. In the first overtime period, the Gators got fortunate when Callie Lanphier's 25-yard dipping shot hit the crossbar.

For the match, both teams turned in five shots each and both goalkeepers recorded three saves.

Florida returns home to begin a three-match home stand versus SEC Western Division opponents, beginning Friday, Oct. 13 with Mississippi (7-4-3, 3-0-3). The Rebels are the current SEC Western Division leader and posted a 4-0 win Sunday at Alabama Sunday afternoon. Live, streaming video of the UF-UM match is available on GatorVision – check out www.GatorVision.tv for complete information.