Junior Stacy Bishop scored on a 25-yard free kick in the 99th minute to give the No. 20 University of Florida soccer team (7-3-1, 3-0 SEC) a 2-1 OT win versus Georgia (6-4, 1-2 SEC) in front of a James G. Pressly Stadium crowd of 3,859 – the fourth largest crowd in UF history.
For Bishop, it was her second walk-off goal in as many days, albeit the first came to end Thursday's team practice.
“Yesterday, we ended practice on the same shot. I thought I'm going to do the same thing as yesterday. I was pretty confident, but I'm not going to say I was 100% sure,” Bishop said.
Her coach was a bit more confident.
“I knew (Stacy) Bishop was going to score on that set piece. She does that every day in practice, and she did it yesterday from the same exact spot, and the same exact shot. (That shot) wasn't ever a doubt,” UF Head Coach Becky Burleigh said.
But to get to the position to have a game-winning goal took the Gators almost the entire time of regulation.
The Bulldogs scored quickly, catching the Gators flat-footed on a corner kick at 3:43. Georgia sophomore Megan Tomlinson put in Kelly Whitaker's corner kick from six yards to give the Bulldogs the 1-0 lead.
Florida had several opportunities to score, but it wasn't until the 86th minute that the Gators tied the match. Freshman Angela Napolitano's shot was blocked and the ball was loose in the box. Junior KeLeigh Hudson took a 10-yard shot that was redirected by Megan Kerns in at the far post. It was Kerns' third goal of the season.
For the match, Florida out shot UGA 21-7 and the Bulldog goalkeeper, Lauren Church, made saves on six of Florida's eight shots on goal.
“There were a lot of times tonight when Georgia was really chasing, but to their credit, their keeper made a lot of really great saves. Their defenders also made some great saves, too,” Burleigh said. “Georgia did a great job of staying in the match.”
Florida continues home SEC action by playing host to defending SEC regular-season and tournament champion Tennessee (4-3-3, 0-1-2 SEC) on Sunday, Oct. 1 at 1:30 p.m. The Lady Vols tied South Carolina 0-0 2OT in Friday's action. The first 1,000 fans at Sunday's match will receive t-shirts courtesy of Sun Sports. The match can be heard live on www.GatorZone.com.
The Florida-Georgia match will air tape-delayed on Sun Network Sept. 30 at 9:30 p.m.
| Scoring Summary: | 1st | 2nd | OT | Final |
| Georgia | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Florida | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Scoring: |
| UGA – Megan Tomlinson (Kelly Whitaker) 3:43 |
| UF – Megan Kerns (KeLeigh Hudson) 85:48 |
| UF – Stacy Bishop (unassisted) 98:10 |
| Goalkeepers: |
| | | Minutes | Saves | GA |
| Georgia | Lauren Church | 98:10 | 6 | 2 |
| Florida | Brittni Goodwin | 98:10 | 4 | 1 |
| | | | | |
| Statistical Summary: | UGA | UF |
| Shots | 7 | 21 |
| Saves | 6 | 4 |
| Corner Kicks | 3 | 10 |
| Fouls | 13 | 7 |
| Offside | 5 | 2 |
