NO. 13 FLORIDA DEFEATS NO. 16 KENTUCKY 5-1 IN SEC PLAY
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The 13th ranked Florida Gators (8-2-1/4-0-0) defeated the 16th ranked Kentucky Wildcats (8-3-0/2-1-0) 5-1 in Southeastern Conference women’s soccer action on Sunday afternoon at Percy Beard Stadium. Florida maintained its dominance over UK and the SEC, winning for the ninth time in as many games against the Wildcats, while extending its conference winning streak to 49 games – the longest current league win streak in the nation.
“We’re very disappointed and changes have to be made,” UK coach Warren Lipka said. “We must fix what is broken this week to get ready for our next match against Georgia.”
Florida recorded its earliest goal of the season Sunday, when sophomore Casey Hamel hit a 16-yard left shot for her second goal of the year. The assist on the goal was credited to senior Abby Wambach, who increased her career assists total to 41 to take sole possession of UF’s career assists record.
“We can’t give a team like that an early lead,” Lipka said. “That put us in the position of trying to fight back and even it up and then we had holes – they were able to take advantage of our mistakes after that.”
The Gators jumped out to a 3-0 lead on Kentucky before sophomore midfielder Heather Saas dented the net at the 75:38 mark of the second half. The goal was the first of Saas’ career and the only goal UK would garner on the afternoon against Florida’s suffocating defense. UF outshot UK 13 to nine.
“We thought we were ready going into the game,” Saas said. “Giving up that first goal so early really hurt us and we kind of shut down – we just lost our composure as a team and didn’t play with purpose. We made them look better than they are and it hurts to lose like that.”
The Wildcats will next be in action this Friday evening as they play host to the Georgia Bulldogs in SEC play at the UK Soccer Complex. Game time is scheduled for 7 p.m. Kentucky will complete the weekend slate by welcoming Tennessee to campus on Sunday, Oct. 14 for a 3 p.m. SEC match.
Kentucky 0 1 1Florida 2 3 5Attendance: 880Scoring - Hamel, UF (Wambach), 1:07, Wambach, UF (Sellers), 11:30, Wambach, UF (unassisted- won goal off Wambach cross), 48:40, Saas, UK (unassisted), 75:38, Fulton, UF (unassisted), 75:58, Sellers, UF (Floyd), 77:18.Shots - UK: 9, UF: 13Corner Kicks - UK: 3, UF: 5Goalkeeper Saves - UK: 2, UF: 3Fouls - UK: 16, UF: 17
– UK –
