Florida Gators
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Gators 3-1 Win Over California Sends Florida to NCAA Soccer Sweet 16
Saturday, November 22, 2014 | Soccer
GAINESVILLE, Florida – The Florida soccer team defeated the California Bears 3-1 in NCAA Second Round play Friday evening in front of a chilly Donald R. Dizney Stadium crowd of 933. The win sends Florida to its 10th NCAA Round of 16 in the program's 20-year history.
| Friday's NCAA Results |
| No. 2 region seed Florida 3, California 1 |
| No. 3 region seed Texas Tech 2, Auburn 1 |
| No. 1 region seed Florida State 3, Northeastern 0 |
| UCF 3, No. 4 region seed Wisconsin 2 |
| No. 3 region seed South Carolina 0, Seattle 0 2OT(USC 2-1 PK) |
| No. 2 region seed North Carolina 1, Colorado 0 OT |
| No. 2 region seed Penn State 1, Connecticut 0 |
| Virginia Tech 4, Georgetown 3 OT |
| No. 1 region seed Stanford 1, Arkansas 0 |
| No. 4 region seed Washington 1, Missouri 0 OT |
| No. 4 region seed Notre Dame 2, Texas 1 |
| No. 1 region seed Texas A&M 7, Arizona 2 |
| No. 4 region seed Pepperdine 4, Illinois State 0 |
| No. 1 region seed UCLA 7, Harvard 0 |
| No. 3 region seed Kentucky 3, Arizona State 1 |
| No. 2 region seed Virginia 3, Rutgers 0 |
| For all NCAA Second Round scores, |
| check out the NCAA bracket. |
The Gators now advances to play Texas Tech in NCAA Third Round action set for Sunday, Nov. 23 at 2 p.m. at Dizney Stadium. The Red Raiders won 2-1 over Auburn in Friday's opening match at the Gainesville site to move ahead to Sunday's action.
In Friday's NCAA Second Round action, Florida's first goal came off Annie Speese's successfully converted penalty kick at 2:47. The penalty kick was awarded when Savannah Jordan was clipped just inside the box.
Florida pushed the lead to 2-0 in the 13th minute. From just inside the midfield circle, Speese sent a ball right which Jordan ran onto just above the box. She sent a perfectly paced ball through the box which Havana Solaun put a right-footed touch on just before the Cal goalkeeper and a defender got to the ball.
The Bears cut the lead in half just four minutes later. The ball headed by Samantha Witteman hit the far post and Celeste Boureille put in the rebound with her right foot from seven yards.
After a tight second half, the Gators pushed the lead to a two-goal cushion with less than a minute to play. Senior Jillian Graff chased down a ball that was headed out of bounds, won it, hurdled over a Cal defender and then took a touch toward the end line before sending the ball to Jordan at the top of the box. Jordan took the ball left and when the Cal goalkeeper came off her line, put the ball in with her left foot to the far post at 89:05.
Gator Stars
● Speese has turned in a goal in each of the last three matches. With her goal and assist tonight, Speese upped her career points total to 70. That ties her for 12th with Lindsay Thompson (2008-11) on the Gators Career Points chart. It was the 22nd goal of her career, moving her to sole possession of the 17th spot on the Gators Career Goals chart.
● Solaun scored her third goal of the last five matches and has turned in at least a point in each match in that span. It was the 28th goal of her career as she is 11th on Florida's Career Goals Leaders list.
● Jordan beat the buzzer again, scoring a goal in the final minute for the second consecutive match. In the NCAA Opening Round, Jordan scored the Gators' latest goal of the season at 89:34. Tonight, her score at 89:05 is the fourth latest Gator goal of 2014. UF now has four scores recorded in the final minute of regulation. It was her 18th goal of the season, which leads the Southeastern Conference and moves her to a tie for seventh among the 2014 nation's goals leader.
● The goal tonight was the 40th of Jordan's career. She is one of six Gators all-time with a career goals total of 40 or more.
Team Records:
Florida: 16-4-1, 9-2 SEC
California: 14-6-2, 5-4-2 Pac 12
The Series:
Florida leads the series 2-0. Both meetings (2008, 2014) have come in NCAA action played in Gainesville. The Gators won by a 2-1 score in 2008 first round play.
Notables:
● Florida's first goal at 2:47 was the second-fastest of the season. Solaun scored the quickest goal of the season at 2:11 at Oklahoma State on Aug. 31.
● Two goals in the first 13 minutes of tonight's match was quickest two scores for Florida in a match this season.
● Florida advances to the NCAA Round of 16 for the 10th time in the program's 18 NCAA appearances (1996, '97, '98, 2001, '03, '06, '07, '08, '12, '14).
What the Gators Said:
Opening Statement:
“I'm just really excited. It was a great win. What I told our team was that I thought we showed some great finesse. I mean that second goal was a thing of beauty, and yet we showed some great grit too. That was really good to see. I'm just really excited to be moving on.” – Florida Head Coach Becky Burleigh
On seeing character in her team:
“When the second half started, I think you have to give a lot of credit to Cal for the pressure they came out with. They were determined to try and even the game up. I thought our team stepped up to that challenge - especially physically. It did turn into a pretty physical match. Our team likes to play but we also didn't back down from that a bit. That gives you the little bit of the best of both worlds.” – Florida Head Coach Becky Burleigh
On Texas Tech.:
“You don't get to this level of the NCAA Tournament without being a good team. I thought either team could have probably won that game, but in the end Texas Tech. utilized their opportunities. I've known Tom (Stone) for a long time. We go way back. I was at Methodist College when he was at Duke. I watched his career from afar. I've always respected him as a coach. He's an innovator, and he does a great job coaching. I think he gets the most out of his players. I'm sure that we will have a battle on our hands on Sunday.” – Florida Head Coach Becky Burleigh
On advancing:
“It's always exciting to move on in the tournament. I think that we've just been taking it one game at a time. I think getting tonight out of the way was the first step from that.” – senior midfielder Havana Solaun
On the importance of getting the early lead:
“We've been really emphasizing the first five minutes of a game, just kind of going after it. I think that that's what we did today. It really just helps us settle down and play the way we want to play.” – senior midfielder Havana Solaun
On the build up to her goal:
“That's the way we always try to play. So to see a goal come out of it, I think is really rewarding. Like Becky said, I can't wait to see it on film tomorrow. I don't even know how many passes it was, but it was a phenomenal build up and then Savannah just played a great ball through.” – senior midfielder Havana Solaun
On thinking ahead in the game:
“The way we play we always try to emphasize getting beyond the ball. When I saw the ball going to Savannah, I was a little further back, but in my mind I was like 'Get behind the ball.' I just kept going. Savannah said she just saw me going and played it through. It's always good to try to be thinking ahead, what's going to happen next. For me, in that moment, I wasn't thinking. I was just playing, and doing what we've been practicing all year.” – senior midfielder Havana Solaun
On the intensity of the second half:
“It was a very intense game. The whole second half we were both going back and forth. We were doing our best to try to keep some composure, and try to knock it around. Cal came at us the whole 45 minutes of the second half. We did our best to keep playing the way we play.” - – senior midfielder Havana Solaun
On the physicality of the game:
“I think it was a very physical game. Our team was up for the challenge. I was really happy about the way our team competed. We didn't shy away from any tackles or any challenges. So I'm really proud of the way we fought through all of that.” – sophomore forward Savannah Jordan
On getting her goal:
“It's always good to get a goal – whether it's late or early. It was a great build up from our team. Jill (Graff) played me a fantastic ball across, and I just tried to stay as composed as possible. It was a great build up for us to finish off, and seal the deal for the game.” – sophomore forward Savannah Jordan
California Quotes
Coach Neil McGuire
On the impact of the early two-goal deficit:
“I think that when you go down two goals to a very good team, it is a challenge. We were surprised to be down by two goals that quickly. I think the penalty kick was unfortunate. I think it's a fair call; if the referee sees it, you have to judge that. But we didn't anticipate being in the hole we were in so early. However, I thought that the team did a good job of riding the ship. In the second half, I thought our performance was very, very good. If you look at the second half statistically, it's probably a much more even game in the second half. We're very proud of our players. We knew going into it, it was a tough match. Sadly, one team has to go home.”
On what makes Savannah Jordan special:
“I think that she's very, very hungry for goals. When you look at a player that has the type of team underneath her that can find her in all the spaces, she's prepared to make runs, and she's very, very selfless with her running off the ball. She's elusive; she's very difficult to mark, so our center backs never really knew where she was. She doesn't miss frame very often. She's pretty well-rounded. If you look at her goal-scoring ability faced up on goal, she's very good with both feet. She's good back to pressure. She's simple in her thought process when she's not in goal scoring position. She actually reminds me a lot of Alex Morgan, who played at Cal, who scored a lot of goals similar to her. She's a true talent, and Florida's lucky to have her.”
On California's halftime adjustments:
“Not that many, to be honest. I think all we asked the girls is to recognize that regardless of the score, you have the ability to play well. If we had not gone down quite so quickly, and if we had found our rhythm as opposed to being put on our heels, you might've seen that from us slightly sooner. So we just reminded them that they're very good, and this is two good teams, and you have to keep the ball. Whoever keeps the ball is going to win the game.
On Florida's scouting report and style of play:
“Yeah, obviously the last game they played against Mercer, you didn't get a chance to see all of their dynamics because of the nature of the game, but from what we've seen, we've seen them a lot on television. We saw them against Tennessee. We saw two or three games early in the season. We knew what they could do. They were very good. Any time two good teams are playing, you're going to see the best of the best athletes, and I thought Florida was outstanding tonight.”
Taylor Comeau
On hanging in the game after facing an early two-goal deficit:
“This team has come back from behind a few times in the season, so we knew that we could do it. Unfortunately today we weren't able to get that second goal, but we knew that we were still in it, and we just fought. We gave it everything we got like we have all season, so I wasn't worried.”
Celeste Boureille
On coming out aggressive in the second half:
“We definitely talked about it in the locker room and talked about how much we wanted to fight for this game and play for our seniors, and I thought we did that in the second half. We fought every minute, and we were a little unfortunate, but I'm happy with our team, for sure.”
Next up:
The Gators and Texas Tech meet Sunday at the Dizney Stadium for NCAA Third Round action. Match time is set for 2 p.m.
Tickets are $7 for adults and $3 for children (12 and under), senior citizen and students. The first 200 UF students showing a Gator1 identification are admitted free.
The Florida-Texas Tech match can be seen at SEC Network+. All of the Gators' NCAA Tournament matches can be heard at GatorZone.com.
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| @UFGatorSoccer (Becky Burleigh) |
California (14-6-2) vs Florida (16-4-1)
Stadium: Donald R. Dizney Stadium (933)
Weather: 64 F, Clear, NE 8 mph, Humidity 50%
| Goals by Period | 1 | 2 | Total |
| Florida | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| California | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Scoring Summary
| No. | Time | Team | Goal Scorer | Assist | Description |
| 1. | 02:47 | UF | Annie Speese (4) | Penalty Kick | |
| 2. | 12:40 | UF | Havana Solaun | Savannah Jordan , Annie Speese | 10 yard chip |
| 3. | 16:54 | CAL | Celeste Boureille (6) | Samantha Witteman | 7 yarder off of post |
| 4. | 89:05 | UF | Savannah Jordan (18) | Jillian Graff | 5 yard shot |
Shots: California 8, Florida 13
Saves: California 3 (Emily Boyd 2) (TEAM 1) , Florida 3 (Taylor Burke 3)
