Florida and Mississippi State Play to Scoreless Tie

Friday, September 28

Starkville, MS

8 PM

Florida Gators

4-6-2, 2-1-1SEC

Mississippi State

8-2-1, 1-2-1SEC

OT 3

OT 4

Florida

Mississippi State

Senior Mayra Pelayo was one of seven Gators to record multiple shots Friday in UF's tie at Mississippi State.

Florida and Mississippi State Play to Scoreless Tie

Friday, September 28, 2018 | Soccer

Box Score Match Highlights SEC Network + Recap Boxscore (PDF)

In the 19-match series between the two teams, this was the third that went to overtime - with all the OTs coming in Starkville.

By: Mary Howard

STARKVILLE, Miss. – Florida and Mississippi State soccer played to a scoreless tie Friday evening at the MSU Soccer Field.

It was the first match played by MSU since appearing at No. 19 on TopDrawerSoccer.com's weekly ranking for the program's debut on a national poll.

Friday's Match:
Florida had some near chances in its match-leading 20 shots Friday. Among the better opportunities was Mayra Pelayo's shot in the 16^th minute that hit the cross bar. Four minutes later, Carina Baltrip-Reyes almost tucked in the corner kick from Laís Araujo at the far post. With eight minutes left in the second half, another Gator – this time Cassidy Lindley – hit the cross bar off her 25-yard shot. In the first overtime, Pelayo's deep cross was almost put in by Madison Alexander's run to the near post.

Quick Hits:

It was the third overtime match for Florida this season. The Gators are 0-1-2 in 2018 extended minutes.
In the all-time 19-match series between these two teams, this was the third overtime – with all coming in Starkville. Florida is 1-0-2 versus the Bulldogs in overtime action.
The shutout was Florida's third of the season. The clean sheet is the 25^th for Kaylan Marckese, putting her two away from tying the school record for career solo shutouts.
Two were not with the Gators Friday due to national team duties. Sophomore Deanne Rose is with the Canada Senior National Team for CONCACAF play, which serves as a qualifier for the FIFA Women's World Cup France 2019. Canada opens play in Edinburg, Texas, on Oct. 5 versus Jamaica. Freshman Georgia Eaton-Collins joined England for Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) Under-19 Championships. England opens play Monday versus Malta.

Hear from the Gators:
On tonight's match:
"I don't know how you are supposed to feel about a tie. It is a tough result because I feel like we really did what we came in here wanting to do, which is play our style of play. We knew Mississippi State would try to disrupt that and I thought we did a pretty good job of staying true to who we were. I think we lacked a little bit in the execution in the final third and we couldn't put one in. But again, credit to Mississippi State for keeping us off the scoresheet.

"There were lots of really good chances. It was a physical match and we kept our composure through that. It was a little skewed as far as fouls but I thought we handled that very well. I really proud of our effort and proud of how we came in here and did what we wanted to accomplish. The only disappointing part was not putting one past the goalkeeper." - Florida Head Coach Becky Burleigh

"It was tough. We knew they were going to be really difficult and we needed to stay composed. We had so many chances. I think we need to be sharper in our execution but other than that, I'm really proud of the team." - senior Mayra Pelayo

2018 Records:
Florida: 4-6-2, 2-1-1 SEC
Mississippi State: 8-2-1, 1-2-1 SEC

Series Record:
Florida leads 15-2-2.

Next Up:
Florida returns home to play host to No. 12 Tennessee on Thursday, Oct. 4.