Florida Gators
Notre Dame
No. 2 Notre Dame Defeats No. 13 Florida Soccer 2-0 in Rain-Delayed Match
Monday, September 3, 2007 | Soccer
No. 2 Notre Dame (1-0-1, 0-0 Big EAST) scored in each half of a lengthy match to take a 2-0 win over No. 13 Florida (1-1, 0-0 SEC) Sunday. The start of the match was delayed 22 minutes due to unplayable field conditions after a heavy rain shower. Play began just before 2 p.m. and nearly a half hour of play was completed before lightening and heavy rains forced the teams from the field. After an hour, the officials decided to suspend play. Competition picked up from the 29:34 point at 7 p.m. (a 4:32 delay). Much of the James G. Pressly crowd of 2,249 did not return when play resumed.
When the match started, there was still water visible on parts of the touchline, forcing the teams to adapt to the less-than-desirable playing conditions. Notre Dame seemed to make those adaptation a bit faster and was able to take advantage to score early in the opening half. Elise Weber's cross was placed in the far post by a diving header from Brittany Bock at 6:28 for first goal of the season for the Fighting Irish.
The Irish scored again at 64:28, with Weber scoring off a five-yard shot to the far post that was set up by an assist from junior Kerri Hanks, the 2006 Hermann Trophy winner as the national player of the year.
Florida outshot the Irish 11-4, marking only the second time in the last 105 matches that an opponent has posted more shots than ND. One of the better Gator chances came in the 60th minute when a Gator cross in front of the Irish goalmouth just missed the outstretch foot of a lunging KeLeigh Hudson.
“In the run of play, I felt like we played really well. We gave them everything they could handle, but we've got to score goals,” UF Head Coach Becky Burleigh said. “They got two goals against the run of play and they won 2-0, but soccer is a crazy sport like that sometimes.”
| Timeline of Delays for Florida-Notre Dame match |
|
|
|
|
It was an unusual day and Burleigh liked how the Gators handled the situation.
“The weather was the same for both teams; the delay was the same for both teams,” Burleigh said. “Our team came out really hard, and it's tough to play only 15 minutes before halftime, but they did a really good job with that. I was really impressed with our players' ability to play smart and play hard today. We knew we could play smart, but that was the first time we've seen ourselves play at that level of toughness.”
“It was a physical match, and we didn't back down. I think we were unfortunate to come out on the losing end.”
Next up, the Gators continue their season-opening home stand when they play host to USF on Friday, Sept. 7 at 7 p.m. Friday's match can be heard live on WRUF-AM 850.
| Scoring Summary: | 1st | 2nd | Final |
| Notre Dame | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Florida | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Scoring: |
| ND – Brittany Bock (Elise Weber) 6:28 |
| ND – Weber (Kerri Hanks) 64:28 |
| Goalkeepers: | ||||
| Minutes | Saves | GA | ||
| Notre Dame | Lauren Karas | 90:00 | 1 | 0 |
| Florida | Katie Fraine | 90:00 | 2 | 2 |
| Statistical Summary: | ND | UF |
| Shots | 4 | 11 |
| Saves | 1 | 2 |
| Corner Kicks | 2 | 6 |
| Fouls | 15 | 11 |
| Offside | 3 | 0 |
