Oct. 28, 2005
Columbia, S.C. – Katie Green tallied one goal and one assist as 16th ranked Florida defeated South Carolina 3-0 in SEC women’s soccer action on Friday evening at James G. Pressly Stadium. Florida improves to 13-4-1 and 8-2-1 in the conference while South Carolina ends its 2005 season at 6-12 and 2-9 in the SEC.
The first half saw South Carolina come out firing in the first 20-25 minutes of action. Ashley Kirk had a strong first half in the midfield for Carolina as she controlled possession of the ball and got off Carolina’s first shot from 25 yards out that just went left off the goal 10 minutes into the match. KeLeigh Hudson would come back with Florida’s first shot just a minute later as she squared up from 18 yards out only to find her shot also sail left of the goal.
Florida pressured the Carolina net in the 23rd minute with two strong chances but USC goalkeeper Laura Armstong came up with key stops on both opportunities. Armstrong made a nice save on a cross inside the box and also denied Shana Hudson of a goal with a save from a shot that was 10 yards out. Kirk would get Carolina’s third shot of the evening at the 25th minute as her direct kick from 35 yards out almost sailed into the goal but was saved by Florida keeper Jen Gardner. Inside the 18-yard box, Alex Mouton also got off a shot just two minutes later that went wide right of the goal.
The Gators would go ahead 1-0 off a Carolina mistake with an own goal at the 26:30 mark. As South Carolina looked to rebuild the attack, a ball played back to goalkeeper Laura Armstrong was mishandled and drifted into the Gamecock goal giving the Gators a one-goal lead.
“We put ourselves in position to challenge beyond the opponent we were facing but then we got in a spot that put us a goal down,” said USC head coach Shelley Smith. “That has hurt us all season when we have made some mistakes and teams have capitalized on them. You stop playing for 10-15 minutes; good teams are going to take advantage of that. We have to realize that it cannot happen. There are no excuses. We have to evaluate our season overall and our efforts. There are some great individual efforts out there. As a team we have to get better, we have to be mentally stronger, so if something goes wrong, we don’t give up another goal or we don’t stop playing. That’s the challenge of our staff and our team to improve on.”
Lindsey DeLorenze increased the Florida lead to 2-0 with less than six minutes remaining in the first half. The Gamecocks were unable to clear a cross from Katie Green that allowed DeLorenze to finish off a shot from eight yards out that was drilled and went beyond the reach of Armstrong. Carolina fired back early in the second half with Kirk tallying a shot on goal early for Carolina with a direct kick only to be denied by the Gators new keeper, Brittni Goodwin. The Gators then put in their third goal of the match with Green scoring her first of the match. From inside the penalty box, Green drilled a shot past new Carolina goalkeeper Lindsay Thorstenson.
Most of the second half would be in the midfield with both teams creating few chances but both defenses denying pressure inside the box. Kirk and Courtney Cobbs both got off shots from outside the 18-yard box but both saved by Goodwin.
“We have a very solid group of players but we have to continue to keep them playing for 90 minutes,” said Smith. “That has been a challenge. It can’t be that inconsistency where you don’t know who is going to get the job done. It’s a very good core group and a lot of them are young. Again, it’s not an excuse that we are young at this point. We’ve had some experience. We didn’t take the step forward that we should have. With the players returning, the class coming in next year and the work we all are going to do in the off-season, we definitely feel that we are team that will turn heads next season.”
