Oct. 16, 2003
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Kentucky (6-5-2, 4-0-1) plays its third of four consecutive road conference matches Friday evening when the Cats take on eighth-ranked Florida (11-2, 3-1). The match is set for 7 p.m. EDT at Percy Beard Stadium on the Florida campus.
Friday’s meeting matches the two winningest coaches in the 11-year history of SEC women’s soccer in Kentucky’s Warren Lipka and Florida’s Becky Burleigh. Two weeks ago, Lipka registered a 2-0 victory over LSU to join Burleigh as the only two coaches in SEC soccer to accumulate 50 conference wins. A year ago, Lipka earned his first career victory over the Gators in 11 tries, a 3-0 shutout in Lexington. A win in Gainesville Friday would be an even greater feat.
The Gators enter the match undefeated in nine home contests in 2003 and are ranked in the top 10 of three of the four collegiate soccer polls. The Cats are 0-3-2 against teams featured in a collegiate soccer poll at the time of the match. Kentucky and Florida share three common opponents from their respective 2003 schedules: Brigham Young, Alabama and Auburn. The Cats went 1-1-1 while the Gators registered an unblemished 3-0 record.
At stake in Friday’s match is SEC Eastern division supremacy. A Kentucky victory would help solidify the Cats’ position atop the division, though a loss would land the Cats in a first-place tie with the Gators and possibly Tennessee, depending on the Vols’ Friday night result.
Nonetheless, Lipka’s experienced squad has sustained its best start in conference play in the 12-year history of the program. No Kentucky team before the ’03 Cats had ever gone unbeaten in the opening five conference matches. Kentucky’s stellar conference start nearly guarantees the Cats a slot in next month’s SEC Tournament, in which only the top eight teams in conference play compete.
Solid defense figures to be a staple of Friday’s match. Florida leads the conference with a 0.75 goals-against average while Kentucky follows closely behind with a 0.76 GAA.
Live statistics for the Kentucky-Florida match will be available at www.gatorzone.com.
