On a night when the 1998 national championship Gators soccer team returned to Pressly Stadium, No. 12 UF didn't wait long to impress.
Just 59 seconds into Friday's game, senior midfielder Ameera Abdullah netted a 35-yard free kick to give the Gators a 1-0 lead over Mississippi (5-6-2, 3-2 Southeastern Conference).
That was all UF (10-2-1, 5-0 SEC) needed.
Abdullah's shot slid by everyone in the box and bounced into the back left corner of the goal. The score also gave Abdullah the 60th point of her career in the Gators' 1-0 win.
"It definitely set the tone and kind of made (Mississippi) have to calm down and play and think about what they were doing," Abdullah said.
As fast as the goal happened, it was just the sixth-fastest in school history.
Former Gator and current U.S. Women's National Team star Abby Wambach, who was a member of the 1998 UF title team but was not in attendance Friday, recorded the quickest goal in Gator history in 2000.
She scored against - you guessed it - the Rebels in just 19 seconds.
Abdullah embraced the national-title winners, who were in attendance Friday night.
"It's Gator history, and we want to make them proud as far as how we play and winning games," Abdullah said.
UF wasn't used to having the lead early, coming off its two road wins last weekend in which the Gators trailed from the outset before winning each in overtime.
"We sort of made that a focus to try and get ahead and not put ourselves in a hole early," UF coach Becky Burleigh said. "Sometimes scoring that early, too, can relax you too much. You think it's going to be too easy."
Goalkeeper Meghan Berlingo got the start over Katie Fraine after Fraine struggled last weekend, giving up five goals.
Berlingo wasn't tested much and did enough to secure the shutout, the first for the Gators in seven matches and third of the season.
She did make an outstretched save with about 11 minutes left in the match, along with a few other late saves to preserve the win.
"(Mississippi) is the No. 2 team in the SEC, and to get a shutout against them is a big accomplishment," Burleigh said.
UF has now won six straight matches, but it has a long way to go to match the effort of the 1998 team, which won 15 straight on its way to the title.
