Florida's Lauren Hyde & McKenzie Barney Pick up SEC Soccer Player of the Week Honors
Monday, November 2, 2009 | Soccer
A pair of Gators appear on the final Southeastern Conference Players of the Week list, the league office announced Monday afternoon. Senior Lauren Hyde (Carmel, Ind./Bishop Chatard H.S.) is the SEC Defensive Player of the Week and McKenzie Barney (Sammamish, Wash./Skyline H.S.) is the SEC Freshman of the Week. LSU midfielder Malorie Rutledge is the SEC Offensive Player of the Week.
This is Hyde's second SEC Defensive Player of the Week honor of her career as she also picked up the honor in the 2007 season. Barney makes her first appearance as the SEC Freshman of the Week and joins two other Gators who have earned the honor this season – Brooke Thigpen (Sept. 14) and Erika Tymrak (Oct. 12).
Hyde served up the 35-yard free kick that freshman Holly King headed in for UF's final goal in its 3-0 win versus No. 13 South Carolina on Oct. 30. In addition, Hyde turned in her fifth consecutive and 13th complete match of the season as she leads UF's field players with her average of 89.7 minutes per match. From her center back position, Hyde anchored the UF defensive effort as the Gators recorded their fourth straight shut out. The win gave Florida its fourth consecutive and 10th overall SEC team title.
Hyde owns four assists this season, which placed her in a three-way tie for second among the Gators.
Barney scored twice in the opening half of Florida's 3-0 win over No. 13 South Carolina. Her first goal came when senior Angela Napolitano sent the ball into the box. Barney flicked it to Tymrak, who took a 12-yard shot from the left side of the box. The ball kicked off the cross bar but Barney continued her run through the box and was able to place the rebound in from four yards in the 20th minute. Just five minutes later, Tymrak made a nice move above the box to shake her defender. She brought the ball down into the box and her centering pass found Barney just above the penalty spot. Barney had space and time so she moved left in the box to evade the on-coming defender and hit a seven-yard shot to the far post.
Barney moved into Florida's starting lineup four matches ago and since that time has turned in two double-goal matches versus nationally ranked opponents (No. 17 LSU and No. 13 South Carolina) and had an assist on UF's only goal in a 1-0 win at Arkansas. She is second among the Gators with seven goals and shares third with 15 points. Her seven goals places her second among the league scorers in SEC matches. She is third overall in SEC matches with 15 points.
The Gators now head to the SEC Tournament which begins Wednesday, Nov. 4 in Orange Beach, Ala. Florida will open play with defending SEC Tournament champion Tennessee (8-8-3, 4-5-2 SEC) on Wednesday, Nov. 4 at 6 p.m. (ET). The Gators have won eight SEC Tournament titles with the last coming in 2007. Wednesday's match can be heard live on www.GatorZone.com and a complimentary video stream of the match can also be seen at the same site.
