ORANGE BEACH, Ala.? The defending Southeastern Conference champion University of Kentucky women?s soccer team rode a five game unbeaten streak to advance to the conference tournament and fell in the quarterfinals to the top-seeded and No. 22 ranked Florida Gators, 4-0, Thursday at the Orange Beach Soccer Complex.
Much like their nine-game winning streak to win the regular season crown, the Gators (14-4-2) used a combination of a stiffening defense and a jump-start offensive effort to take down the Wildcats. Florida concluded the regular season with eight shutouts and surrendered just one goal in the longest winning streak in school history.
?Florida came out and played really well in the first half,? said Head Coach Warren Lipka. ?Take nothing away from them, but I didn?t think we played our best in the first half.?
Kentucky (10-7-3) went 4-0-1 to conclude the season to become the only team in league history to advance to every SEC Tournament since the inception of the tournament in 1993.
?This team showed a lot of character to end the season,? said Lipka. ?To come from being 0-6 in the conference and go on the road and do it the way we did to make the tournament makes us very happy. As a coach, you always want more, but this certainly is something to build on and a learning experience for our younger players.?
Florida got on the board in the seventh minute after two consecutive corner kicks. On the second try, the ball bounced around the 18-yard box as Kentucky attempted to clear the ball out of their defensive area. The Gators were able to send the ball back into the box where the ball was played twice off of the heads of Gator attackers. The ball scooted out near the six-yard box and Florida?s Stacy Bishop volleyed the ball into the lower left corner for the game-winning score.
At the 25:11 mark in the first half Florida?s Shana Hudson sent a well placed ball to the end line where KeLeigh Hudson fired a point-blank shot past the out-stretched arms of Sydney Hiance for a 2-0 lead.
Bishop notched her second goal of the night from 25-yards out with 36:47 on the clock to bring the score to 3-0.
Kentucky?s only scoring threat of the first frame came in the 14th minute when senior Megan Jones tapped a ball out in front of classmate Kate Rowlands. The scoring chance was snuffed immediately by Gator keeper Meghan Berlingo who came off of her line and snatched the ball before Rowlands could get a touch.
In the second half, Florida continued to press offensively but the Wildcat defense, behind freshman keeper Laura Baker, tightened on the Florida attack as the Gators churned just one goal behind three shots on goal in the final 45 minutes of action.
?I thought we played a lot better in the second half,? Lipka said. ?We really rallied in the second half and created some chances, it was just a little too late.?
Kentucky tallied its first shot of the contest in the 55th minute when senior Kelsey Fenix fired a shot 20-yards out that dipped low towards the center of the goal. Florida?s goalie Katie Fraine was able to cradle the save preventing a Wildcat score. The Wildcats continued to pressure the Florida back line when sophomore Ashley Stack ripped off a shot that sailed high in the 63rd minute.
In the 85th minute, Fenix sent a long ball into the box where Jones appeared to place the ball into the back right of the net, but the goal was waved off as Jones snuck offside before scoring.
The Gators brought the score to its final margin in the 89th minute after Bianca Gibbs slashed behind the UK defense and nailed a shot into the back left corner.
