Oct. 17, 2013
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The No. 23/14 University of Kentucky women’s soccer team hits the road for a crucial away contest with No. 8/17 Florida on Friday night at 6:30 p.m. ET, as Kentucky will be in search of its fifth-straight win overall in Southeastern Conference play, and second win in a row over the Gators.
The match will be held at James G. Pressly Stadium in Gainesville, Fla., and broadcast live on Fox Sports South, ESPN3.com, and the WatchESPN app with Bernie Guenther and Katie Witham on the call. The Wildcats are 2-0-0 in televised games this season, picking up wins over Georgia (CSS) and Vanderbilt (Fox Sports) in their two previously televised matches.
Kentucky currently sits on 15 points through the opening six matches of the SEC season at 5-1-0. The LSU Tigers are atop the SEC table with 16 points, and a 5-0-1 conference record. The Gators enter the weekend boasting a 4-2-0 SEC record, and are four points off the pace of LSU and three points off Kentucky in the standings.
Arin Gilliland is coming off a career-best match a week ago, in which she scored three goals, and recording her first-career hat trick. Gilliland’s goals led Kentucky to its fourth-straight regular season win over the Tennessee Lady Vols, 4-1. For her offensive outburst, she was named the SEC Offensive Player of the Week, part of the TopDrawerSoccer National Team of the Week, and a CollegeSoccer360.com National Primetime Performer. Gilliland now has seven goals and eight assists on the season for 22 points, just one shy of team leader, Stuart Pope.
The Wildcats have won their last four SEC matches, recording wins over Georgia (1-0), Mississippi State (3-1), Vanderbilt (2-1) and Tennessee (4-1).
Kentucky and Florida have met 23 times in series history, with the Gators owning the series advantage, 18-3-2. In 2012, Kentucky knocked off the No. 12 Gators, 2-1 in Lexington with goals from Gilliland and Courtney Raetzman, to record the Wildcats’ first win over UF since the 2006 SEC Tournament Championship match. Kentucky is 0-8-1 all-time in Gainesville, and lost 3-0 the last time the two played a match at James G. Pressly Stadium.
TopDrawerSoccer.com has tabbed Friday’s match as one of the `Five Matches To Watch’ nationally for the weekend, as this will have major implications on the SEC regular season championship, as well as seeding for the 2013 SEC Soccer Tournament in Orange Beach, Ala.
For continuing coverage of UK women’s soccer, log on to UKathletics.com.
