No. 12 Florida Soccer Team Plays Host to Mississippi; 1998 NCAA Soccer Title Team Returns
Thursday, October 9, 2008 | Soccer
The top two teams in the current Southeastern Conference soccer standings meet when No. 12 Florida (9-2-1, 4-0 SEC) plays host to Mississippi (5-5-2, 3-1 SEC) on Friday. Match time is set for 8 p.m. at the James G. Pressly Stadium. Admission is free for all 2008 Gator soccer regular-season matches.
This season marks the 10th anniversary of Florida's 1998 NCAA Championship in soccer. Members of 1998 team are returning to Gainesville for Friday's match. A NCAA Championship commemorative poster is available to the first 1,000 fans and members of the 1998 title team will be available to sign the poster pre-match.
Florida leads the current SEC standings with its 4-0 record, while Mississippi is second with a 3-1 league record. Florida leads the all-time series 11-1-1, but the last three meetings have all been 1-0 decisions. UM won its first match versus Florida in Oxford in 2005 and Florida has taken the last two regular-season meetings with a 1-0 score, including an overtime win the last time the Rebels visited Gainesville in 2006. Four matches in the all-time series have gone to overtime, including each of the last three meetings in Gainesville (2003 NCAA Second Round 4-3 2OT; 2004 regular season 0-0 2OT; 2006 regular season 1-0 OT).
Florida vs Mississippi Match Promotions
1998 Championship Team Reunion Weekend - It's been 10 years since a four-year old Florida soccer team stunned perennial power North Carolina with a 1-0 victory in the 1998 NCAA Championship title match. Members of the 1998 title team will return to Gainesville this weekend and will be honored at both Friday's soccer match and Saturday's football game. A commemorative poster of Florida's 1998 NCAA Championship title team will be given to the first 1,000 fans at Friday's match and members of the 1998 team will be available pre-match for autographs. The 1998 Florida team finished with a 26-1 record and was undefeated in SEC play (8-0) to win its then-third consecutive league title. Other Match Promotions
Hotel Blitz - Promotional cards will be created and distributed to several area hotels for in-guest rooms and will include a concessions coupon.
Win Big Money - Fans can stop by participating Wendy's restaurants to pick up registration coupons. Fans can fill them out and bring them to the match, one fan will win $500 and two fans will win $250!
Florida needed overtime to win both of its road matches last weekend. The Gators earned a 4-3 OT win at Vanderbilt the evening of Oct. 3. Florida tied the match three times at Vanderbilt and led only when Jessica Eicken headed in an Ameera Abdullah corner kick in the 95th minute. Four different Gators scored at Vanderbilt. Other Gator goal scorers at VU included Abdullah, Lindsay Thompson and Ashlee Elliott. Florida needed two overtimes, but took the 3-2 2OT win at Kentucky on Sunday. The Gators trailed the Wildcats 2-0 at halftime, but goals scored by Tahnai Annis and Nicky Kit in just over the span of a minute of the second half forced overtime for the fifth time this season. Thompson scored her first collegiate game-winning goal in the 103rd minute.
After scoring a goal in both of Florida's overtime wins, including the golden goal at Kentucky, Thompson picked up the SEC Offensive and Freshman Player of the Week honors Monday. She is the first Gator to win both honors in a single week since the league began the SEC Freshman of the Week honor for the 2005 season.
This past weekend, UF earned its 100th regular-season SEC win in the program's 14-year history (record now stands at 101-15-9 record all-time). UF is the first league school to pass the century mark for SEC wins. The league began sponsoring a championship in soccer in 1993 and the first season for Gator soccer was 1995.
Mississippi comes into Friday's match on a three-match win streak versus league opponents. After opening the SEC schedule with a 2-0 loss to Arkansas, the Rebels handed then No. 25 LSU its first loss of the season (1-0) and added two wins last weekend (3-1 at Auburn and 2-1 at Alabama). Senior Jennifer Hance leads UM this season with five goals and one assist for 11 points. In road matches in 2008, UM is 2-2-2.
Live streaming video, stats and audio of Friday's match are available on GatorVision, with Matthew Stubbington and Adam Schick calling the action. Check www.GatorZone.com for complete information.
