Led by a classic Savannah Jordan performance, Florida stamped its ticket to the Sweet Sixteen on Friday night, defeating California 3-1 at Donald R. Dizney stadium in one of the most riveting contests of the Gators’ season.
Even though she didn’t score until the game’s final minute, Jordan had her fingerprints all over the match.
Florida struck first when Jordan was fouled in the penalty box in the third minute, resulting in a penalty kick which was put home by senior Annie Speese.
The second goal by Florida was the result of a beautiful buildup starting and ending with senior midfielder Havana Solaun.
After passing the ball back to senior Tessa Andujar, Solaun ran up the field while the team made precision pass after precision pass. Finally, the ball reached the feet of Jordan, who provided the assist for Solaun’s seventh goal of the season - a 10-yard chip past the goalkeeper.
But minutes later, Cal brought the score back to 2-1 with a goal from Celeste Boureille, her sixth of the season.
Both teams settled down defensively from that point and managed to maintain the scoreline until halftime.
Once the second half commenced, the slow buildup of tension began.
Both teams took five shots apiece in the half, and almost all of them were dangerously close to goals.
Shots flew just above the crossbar, hit the post or required miraculous saves by the goalkeepers to keep them from getting through.
And many of the chances came from Jordan, who took a total of six shots in the entire match - three of which were on goal.
She caused such havoc for the Cal defense that Golden Bears’ head coach Neil McGuire compared her to Cal’s own Alex Morgan after the game.
As the contest neared its end, the tension reached a fever pitch, with both teams getting increasingly physical.
Florida finished the game with 14 fouls, while Cal finished with 12, and most came in the later parts of the second half as both teams’ urgency grew.
“It was a very intense game the whole second half,” Solaun said. “We were both going back and forth and I think that we were doing our best to try to keep our composure and knock it around, but Cal came at us the whole 45 minutes… .”
But in the 90th minute - after Cal had pushed forward as many players as possible to try to generate scoring opportunities - Jordan put the nail in the coffin, striking home her 18th goal of the season and sending the Gators through to the third round of the NCAA Tournament.
“I just always try my best to stay aggressive in my attacking, I try to play my role as best as possible,” she said. “Today, it was a little bit different for me - I had more setups for other players than some chances, and I think that was great, it was a different role, and for me it’s always good to be involved any way that I can.”
Florida head coach Becky Burleigh said her team showed a lot of character in the way the played.
“When that second half started, I think you have to give a lot of credit to Cal for the pressure they came out with,” she said. “They were determined to try and even the game up, and I thought our team stepped up to that challenge.”
With the win, the Gators will now host the Texas Tech Red Raiders at Dizney Stadium on Sunday afternoon at 2. Texas Tech is the No. 3 seed and defeated Auburn 2-1 earlier on Friday.
Follow Graham Hack on Twitter @graham_hack24
Savannah Jordan scores in the 90th minute during Florida's 3-1 win against California on Friday at Donald R. Dizney Lacrosse Stadium.
