2006 Florida Gators [R]

Florida 1, Portland 1- Final in 2OT. Rapinoe unassisted in the 16th minute. Bishop PK in the 85th minute for the Gators. Very entertaining game.

Well, I wasn't there in person but got to watch them on video. Best Florida team since they went to the College Cup a few years back. They have all the pieces to be extremely good this year, even with Booth redshirting. Stacy Bishop is a huge addition on the offense. Elliott looked great early, before she was slowed by some kind of injury. Abdullah is back 100% and looks great. The transfers Lyle and Davis, as well as Ruberry returning, really shore up the defensive side of things. The only real question mark I see is Goodwin in goal. This team has speed, skill, great chemistry and they really look to be having fun out there. In spite of rainy conditions, this was a really great soccer match to watch, esp. being the season opener. Two pretty equal teams from what I saw. Both had their chances to win in OT and regulation.

 

Florida defeated a scrappy Kennesaw State squad today, 3-1. KSU had 2 shots on the day, 1 scored, the other hit the crossbar, so they were on target when they got they few chances. Florida looked sluggish and sloppy, almost a hangover from playing Portland the other night. Still, the managed to pull out the win. Harris, Napolitano and Elliott found the back of the net for the Gators

 

So much for this Florida team being the best since 2001. They were flat against Kennesaw State last weekend, flat again tonight, losing 1-0 to Fresno State. Florida totally dominated, but their passing sucked, their finishing was worse and the Fresno keeper made some great saves. Fresno had 4 shots, they scored on a ball that deflected off a Gator defender. Totally uninspired effort. They've totally digressed after playing so well last Friday. The number of horrible passes and passes to no one, the opposition, etc. was just disgusting to watch. This team really is no different than years past. Shame, they fooled me into thinking otherwise with the performance last week.

 

I've been out of town, so sorry for anyone who reads this, for not updating.

After the loss to Fresno, UF rebounded with a 6-1 win over UL-Lafayette.

Last week, they really played well but lost to Florida State in Tallahassee, 1-0. Kuralay caught Goodwin off her line(recurring theme for her and really the only true weakness on this team, as far as talent goes) and ripped a beautifully placed looping shot from about 30 yards out for the only goal, about 3 minutes before half. I thought Florida controlled the run of play in the 2nd half, they had several good chances in both halves, but Mims was solid in goal. Still, I was impressed with the way they played. If they had played like that against Fresno, with passion and fire and desire, they wouldn't have lost. Florida State is just better right now.

Then on Sunday, they played a pretty bad Jacksonville team and won 7-0. It could've been much worse. Most everyone who was healthy got in to the game, so it was good game experience for some of the bench players.

Tonight, Florida beat Duke 1-0. Abdullah with the goal in the 5th minute. Duke really put the pressure on in the 2nd half and dominated play, but they were unable to equalize. Kind of different from Florida'd previous Friday games. In their first 3 Friday games, they gave up a 1st half goal and never led, while outplaying their foe in the 2nd half. Tonight, the roles were reversed, as they led early and hung on for dear life. It's a good win and next up is UNC on Sunday afternoon.

 

UNC up on Florida 1-0 in the 2nd half. O'Reilly with a goal in the 1st half. Goodwin saved a PK from Averbusch. Officiating sounds like it's horrid. They are consistently calling offsides on UF and they are bad calls. Becky is livid on the sidelines. Yes, it's a UF announcer I'm listening to, but Becky doesn't get mad easily. Not really a surprise, we've seen this before with ACC officials.

 

1-0 is the final.

 

Florida kicks off SEC play with a big win, taking down Auburn at Auburn, 3-1. Ashlee Elliott, who is really having a terrific freshman campaign, scored 2 first half goals off 2 assists from Liz Ruberry, as Florida dominated the opening 45. Auburn came out strong in the 2nd half and controlled play for about the first 30 minutes. During that point, they scored to cut the lead in half. The last 10-15 minutes were all Florida and Katie Green sealed the win with a goal in the 85th minute to give the Gators the final 3-1 margin. Really good win for this team to get them off to the right start in SEC play and according to the rankings, it's an upset, though I don't think so.

 

Florida leads Bama 4-0 at half. I guess they are out to prove they can play soccer, since the Auburn coach feels Auburn totally controlled and dominated the match the other night against UF, even though they lost 3-1 and had only 1 shot on goal.


4-1 is the final.

 

Whew, what a game. 4th largest crowd at UF of 3,859 witnessed a good one. It was 85 1/2 minutes of total frustration. Gators gave up an early goal to the Dawgs but controlled the rest of the match, unable to find the goal up to that point. Some amazing saves by Church in goal, as well as a little help from the post and crossbar. Finally, with about 4 minutes to play, Keleigh Hudson put home a deflected Napolitano shot to even things up. They went to OT where Bishop scored a beautiful goal off a free kick to keep Florida undefeated all time against UGA, 2-1. Such a huge win, to keep them undefeated in the league with a leg up on their rivals. This had the feeling of the Fresno State match, where Florida gave up an early goal and put on all kinds of pressure, but great goalie play kept them out of the net. Thankfully, tonight didn't end like that one. Huge match with Tennessee on Sunday. Win that and they are in great shape in the league.

 

Tennesee won 2-1. For some reason, this team comes out flat and it only seems like they wake up once they give up a goal. Today, Tennessee outplayed them big time in the first half, scoring twice(though the 2nd goal was offsides and the ref missed it). Still, the way Florida played in the 1st half, they were lucky to only be down 2. As they seem to do, they mounted a comeback and pretty much controlled the 2nd half, but it wasn't enough. They got a goal with about 20 minutes left and continued to apply pressure as Tennessee was clearly tired(why do they have such a small bench?), but Johnson came up with some nice saves and a few other shots just went wide or high. Disappointing loss in that this was a huge game and they came out so uninspired. They can still win the league, but if they keep having to play from behind, they are in trouble. They need to jump on these teams early and play the entire game, not just a half.