No. 9 Tennessee Takes Down Florida

Not even the sprinklers going off in the second half could stop the Tennessee Volunteers momentum Thursday night. The Volunteers defeated the Gators 2-0 at Donald R. Dizney Stadium.

Tennessee ruined Florida’s three-game win streak as they fell to 4-7-2 overall while the Volunteers improved to 10-1-1. This is also the fourth-straight match the Volunteers have won.

https://twitter.com/GatorsSoccer/status/1048027571751997440

Minute by Minute

Tennessee’s first goal was real quick, actually in the first two minutes of play. Volunteer Danielle Marcano made the fast goal from close range to already put the Gators down 1-0 in the first half. However, the Gators combated the solid Volunteer offense well because they went into halftime still down 1-0.

“I think they [the Gators] did really well to move past that first goal. I thought the rest of the half we really took them apart a little bit,” head coach Becky Burleigh said. “I think the disappointing, frustrating thing is obviously is that score doesn’t reflect what that game looked like. But in the end, the score matters. And we just have to be better at finishing at our chances.”

Then, just when the Gators thought they could tie it up in the second half, Erin Gilroy got one in at 6 yards at the 56:16 mark. It seemed at that point, the Volunteers handled everything the Gators threw at them. The Gators outshot the Volunteers by 13-10, but none of Florida’s shots found a way to connect with the net.

“I would say that as a team, we worked really hard. It just came down to execution, and today Tennessee was able to execute better than we were,” Junior defender Sammie Better said. “It is something we need to work and focus on when we have those opportunities to finish.”

Next Up

The Gators will travel to take on No. 11 South Carolina on Sunday at 3 p.m. The Gamecocks are the defending league champions and therefore a great matchup to watch.