Florida Soccer Earns SEC Tournament Berth in Draw vs. Georgia
Going into its regular-season finale against longtime rival Georgia, Florida soccer needed a win or a draw to punch its ticket to the SEC Tournament in Pensacola.
And with a little over four minutes left, it seemed the Gators were on track to log their first win since Alabama on Oct. 8, securing three crucial points and a postseason run in the process. However, Georgia struck late to tie the match 1-1, dashing Florida’s hopes of ending the regular season with a win.
But a draw was enough to qualify the Gators for the tournament, which is set to kick off in Pensacola on Nov. 8. And for coach Nick Zimmerman, next week provides a clean slate for a Florida team that has pushed through the 11th-toughest schedule in the country.
“We battle tested,” Zimmerman said postgame. “Every single game we play is against a really good opponent. That’s what the SEC is.”
Sunday’s rivalry matchup was a physical one, with the Bulldogs racking up 15 fouls to the Gators’ 10. Georgia also earned two yellow cards in the first half. The Bulldogs, who have beaten the Gators in Gainesville only once, trail in the all-time series 30-5-7 across 42 meetings.
Senior forward Zoe Main led the charge for the Gators offense Sunday, creating opportunity after opportunity in the box with varied success for most of the first half. Her first shot came in the 16th minute and was saved by Georgia goalkeeper Jordan Brown.
Main finished with five shots, four on target, and finally found her opening in the 34th minute. Assisted by sophomore midfielders Tatum Borman and Adia Symmonds, the forward broke through with a right-footed shot to the bottom left of the net, just out of Brown’s reach, to put the Gators up by one. The goal marked Main’s sixth of the season.
On the defensive end, Florida’s backline, led by redshirt sophomore midfielder Norah Abbott and freshman defender Carlota Martins, really stepped up to help redshirt junior goalkeeper Paloma Peña on multiple occasions. Abbott has become a key part of the lineup in the second half of the season, starting every game since Oct. 2 against LSU. Peña, who recently replaced redshirt senior goalkeeper Jayden Emmanuel as the starter, logged no saves in the first half, largely due to the young backline’s efforts.
Going into halftime, the Gators were outshooting their opponent 8-2.
Georgia came out playing aggressively in the second half, but still managed only three shots in the first 25 minutes. The Gators logged five in the same span but did not put any on target.
The Bulldogs got dangerously close to the net in the 55th minute, but freshman defenders Martins and Lael Hill were on top of it, blocking the attempt in a team save.
Offensively, the Gators continued to put pressure on Brown as the second half progressed, with Symmonds putting a shot on target in the 74th minute. They weren’t able to get on the board again, but seemed poised to hold Georgia off as the 90-minute mark approached.
However, in the 86th minute, Georgia midfielder Kiera Staude found the back of the net with a right-footed shot, stunning the Gators and tying the match. Florida finished with a 14-10 edge in shots, but Georgia outshot the Gators 8-6 in the second half.
The 1-1 result extended Georgia coach Keidane McAlpine’s unbeaten streak against Florida to seven games. Georgia had already qualified for the tournament last week, and the result places it as the No. 10 seed.
Having scraped by, the Gators will now shift their focus to Pensacola, where they will be the 12th seed. Florida will once again face fifth-seeded Arkansas, which beat the Gators last month, on Nov. 8 at 8 p.m.
For Main, the tournament offers the possibility of some SEC rematches and a second chance for the Gators to redeem themselves. She said the focus now is getting results and extending the season.
“I think we have a really special group and it’s just about getting that result,” she said. “I just want to extend the season as long as we can.”
Category: Gator Sports, Gators Soccer
