The Gators needed 140 minutes to score this weekend. But when senior midfielder Erika Tymrak sent a shot from the left side into the far post netting, the floodgates opened.
“I saw the far post open, so I hit it and it just kind of knuckled in,” she said.
Tymrak’s goal was the only score Florida (13-4-1, 10-2 Southeastern Conference) needed in its 4-0 victory against Vanderbilt (5-9-5, 2-6-4 SEC) on Sunday afternoon.
After a scoreless outing against Alabama on Friday, the Gators started slowly against the Commodores. Florida struggled to push the attack forward, and when it did, Vanderbilt’s defense often broke up passes and stopped the attacks short.
“We were just a little bit impatient in the first half,” coach Becky Burleigh said. “At halftime, we talked about just keeping possession in Vanderbilt’s defensive half. And once we did that, I think some things opened up for us.”
When UF returned for the second half, the goals came early and often. Tymrak opened the scoring in the 51st minute, and senior Jo Dragotta followed with a second goal a minute-and-a-half later.
Dragotta’s shot came from more than 30 yards out but still managed to sneak into the top right corner of the net.
“I just looked up and saw the keeper was a little off her line,” Dragotta said. “I just hit it as hard as I could.”
“It was like déjà vu,” Tymrak said, referencing Dragotta’s 20-yard score against Mississippi State on Oct. 14. “I told her that she has that upper 90 spot with her name on it.”
The goal was Dragotta’s sixth this season, which gave her the team lead. But not for long.
Six minutes after Dragotta scored, redshirt senior McKenzie Barney also scored her sixth goal of the season. When sophomore Havana Solaun’s free kick bounced off the crossbar, Barney scored on the rebound to give the Gators a 3-0 lead.
Florida would add a final goal in the 67th minute, when junior midfielder Caroline Triglia scored from 5 yards out.
The Gators clinched the SEC East with the win and own a half-game lead on Texas A&M with only one match left to play.
“We definitely control our destiny and just have to focus on our team,” Tymrak said.
Forward Erika Tymrak pushes the tempo against Kentucky in a game last season. Tymrak broke Florida's scoreless drought during the weekend with a goal in the 51st minute against Vanderbilt.
