On any given night, No. 8 Florida has an arsenal of attackers to bombard a team’s defense.
Friday night, Lindsay Thompson supplied the blows.
On a frigid night in Orange Beach, Ala., the junior striker notched her first career hat trick securing a 3-1 victory over Georgia in the semifinals of the Southeastern Conference Tournament. The strong effort propelled the Gators to their first conference final in three years.
“It was a great win,” Thompson said. ““I’m really excited for Sunday’s game. This was a huge wall we wanted to break through. Luckily we did it, and I had a part in it.” The junior’s opening goal was undoubtedly the biggest play in the game because less than 30 seconds after Florida had conceded an early goal (7th minute), Thompson scored on a well-conceived attack that immediately put the match back to square one.
The goal was “huge” according to coach Becky Burleigh.
“The most exciting part was the resiliency and comeback after we gave up the early goal,” she said. “Coming back so quickly showed a lot of character. Resiliency is one of our core values and it showed today.”
In the 27th minute, Thompson scored her second goal when she headed in a cross sent in by one of Thursday’s heroes, McKenzie Barney.
Holding a 2-1 lead after halftime, Florida trudged through a second-half dogfight as Georgia refused to go away. Complicating matters was that starting keeper Katie Fraine was removed from the game due to injury. Backup Brooke Chancey played the entire second half, but the junior stopper didn’t miss a beat.
Seeing game action for just the third time in her career, the goalie made two diving saves to maintain the lead and sparked confidence throughout the team.
“This is the moment that every backup keeper dreams for,” Chancey said. “My dreams came true. I’m sorry Fraine had the injury, but this was my time to shine and I think I did pretty well.”
In a back and forth game that saw Florida struggle to add an insurance goal, Thompson came through again off a two-on-one set up by All-SEC standout Erika Tymrak.
The sophomore midfielder collected the ball off a counter attack and flew down the field challenging the last Bulldogs defender. Right as the defender committed toward Tymrak, the midfielder laid off a perfect pass to Thompson, who finished for her eighth goal of the season.
“We knew it was going to be a physical battle and we couldn’t let down because Georgia played really hard,” Thompson said. “The score doesn’t really show how close the match was. Luckily we finished our opportunities.”
On Sunday UF challenges South Carolina for conference supremacy in a rematch from last Friday’s epic showdown. Despite five consecutive regular-season titles, Sunday’s final will be the first for the Gators since 2007.
“It’s exciting to be in the final,” Burleigh said. “We haven’t been here in a while.”
