What a way to start off Southeastern Conference play.
No.7 Florida (6-2, 1-0 SEC) defeated Alabama (4-3-1, 0-1 SEC) by the score of 2-1 Friday night in a wild and intense game on the road to kick off the conference schedule for both teams. It was the first time since 2008 that the Gators have won in Tuscaloosa.
The game was scoreless at halftime despite Florida creating numerous scoring opportunities, but the play of Alabama’s defense held the Gators in check.
“Well, I think to come out of this game with a win, we haven’t done that in a while here in Alabama,” Coach Becky Burleigh said. “So we’re very happy with that.”
Florida Sophomore Liz Slattery finally broke the tie in the 74th minute with a goal off of a rebound from a free kick. It was Slattery’s first goal of the year.
Senior Lauren Silver also added her first goal of the season, and it was a memorable one. Silver scored unassisted directly off of her corner kick in the 78th minute.
Alabama responded very quickly, however, when senior Laura Lee Smith put in her fifth goal of the year for the Crimson Tide only seconds after Florida had jumped ahead 2-0.
All three goals in the game were scored within four minutes of each other.
Burleigh said that the Alabama defense made it very hard for Florida to get open looks and to score, but that the Gators were able to persevere and wait for their opportunities.
“When they (Alabama) have eleven people behind the ball at all times, it’s difficult. It’s hard to find space,” Burleigh said. “I thought we did some good things to score the two goals that we did.”
Overall, Florida finished the night with 20 shots compared to Alabama’s seven. The Gators had seven shots on target and the Tide had three. Sophomore Savannah Jordan led the Gators in shots with six.
Both of Florida’s goals came off of set pieces. They made their opportunities count.
“I think that just shows that we can do finesse or we can do power, whatever we need,” Burleigh said. “In that case, we got two goals because of just being tough.”
Follow Alex Maminakis on Twitter @alexmaminakis
