After a Friday night full of fireworks including both goals and pyrotechnics, the Gators won Sunday afternoon without any real sparks.
No. 6 Florida (10-1-1, 4-0 Southeastern Conference) defeated Ole Miss (5-7-1, 1-3 SEC) 3-0 with a strategy rarely utilized in soccer: let the other team do most of the scoring for you.
The scrappy Rebels bottled up the Gators’ high-powered offense, but they couldn’t overcome two fluky goals and were outlasted by a team that had revenge set on its mind.
Ole Miss was the only SEC opponent to defeat Florida last year in league play, winning a 3-2 overtime game in Oxford.
“When we go to Mississippi or Mississippi State we know we're going to win,” senior Nicky Kit said. “But when we lost [last year] it was like a rude awakening, so we really just wanted to win this year.”
On Sunday, the Gators' usual rhythmic and patient offense was foiled by a Rebels defense that stayed compact and forced the Gators into difficult chances.
“You know the first half I thought we were just getting a bit frustrated with the defense that Ole Miss was playing,” coach Becky Burleigh said. “They were trying to put a whole bunch of people behind the ball and we had to try to deal with that."
Florida finally broke through in the 20th minute with an own goal off a Jazmyne Avant cross.
The junior defender streaked up the sidelines but stopped roughly 35 yards away from goal and sent an in-swinging cross in the box toward Tahani Annis. Ole Miss defender Kendyl Mygatt stepped up to clear the ball, but unintentionally volleyed it directly into the back of the net.
In the second half, the Gators played more to their style and possessed the ball with much better patience. But they still failed to get any real threatening scoring opportunities.
In the 73th minute, however, Kit gave the Gators a 2-0 advantage when she received a corner kick from Annis and shot a ball that drilled a Rebels defender’s shoulder and ricocheted into the back of the net. It was Kit’s first goal of the season, but the defender contributed to two goals Friday night in Florida’s 7-1 shellacking of Mississippi State.
"(In) the second half I thought we really wore them down and kind of made them pay for putting all of those people behind the ball,” Burleigh said. “Again (we're) just glad to get out with a shutout, 3-0. We'll take it."
McKenzie Barney pushed her streak of consecutive home games with a goal to nine when the sophomore captain ripped a one-time shot with just 20 seconds left in the match. The goal extends her school record, which she set Friday night.
Abby Wambach previously held the record with seven straight games.
