Florida coach Becky Burleigh wasn’t shy about how she felt her team played Friday night.
“I thought we dominated all phases of the game.”
That’s something you typically hear from a coach whose team left the field as the winning side.
But that wasn’t the case against Kentucky.
Despite a seemingly dominant game for the home side, having outshot the opposition 27 to six, the No. 12 Gators (8-3-1, Southeastern Conference 2-2-1) tied the Wildcats (9-2-2, SEC 3-1-1) 1-1 at home.
No matter how many shots were taken by Burleigh’s team, there were obstacles in the way of Florida’s desire to pull away from UK, whether it was a shot off the iron, a great save, or just bad luck.
“We had chance after chance, and it just hit off the post, or a little bit wide.” Senior defender Lauren Smith said in a release.
The Gators experienced a dominating, yet somewhat frustrating first half on the offensive end. They outshot the Wildcats 12 to two in the first 45 minutes, but only managed to get on the scoreboard fairly late in the half.
41 minutes into the half, a corner kick by senior defender Christen Westphal found the head of junior forward Savannah Jordan, who put the ball past Kentucky goalkeeper Katelyn Jenson for the goal.
“Christen…served a great ball in and I just attacked it.” Jordan said.
The goal was the 13th of the season for Jordan, who leads the NCAA in that category.
Less than five minutes into the second half, Kentucky answered with a goal of its own.
In the 49th minute, the Wildcats’ Kaitlin Miller took a shot from 18 yards out that deflected off of a Florida defender into the net.
While the Gators continued to get their fill of shot opportunities throughout the half, the game stayed deadlocked at 1-1 until the end of regulation time to force overtime.
Florida wasn’t as dominant in the 20 minutes of overtime, but the Gators still got four shots off.
“It just felt like the goal was shrinking slowly and slowly,” Westphal said.
“Just not our night to score.”
Follow Kyle Brutman on Twitter @KBrut13
UF defender Christen Westphal dribbles the ball during Florida's 3-2 win against Florida State on Aug. 30, 2015, at James G. Pressly stadium.
