University of Georgia
Florida
Soccer Edged 2-1 In Gainesville
September 26, 2014 | Soccer
Highlights from Georgia soccer's match against Florida including an interview with head coach Steve Holeman.
Sept. 26, 2014
GAINESVILLE, Fla. --- The No. 22 Georgia soccer team sat tied with seventh-ranked Florida at halftime, but the Gators used a 72nd-minute breakaway goal to come away with the 2-1 victory over the Bulldogs Friday night at Pressly Stadium. With the loss, Georgia now stands at 6-2-1 (1-1-1) on the season entering Sunday afternoon's match-up with No. 14 South Carolina in Columbia, S.C.
Georgia got its goal from sophomore forward Marion Crowder - her fifth in the last three games - with the assists going to Gabby Seiler and Rachel Garcia on the play. Seiler has now recorded a point in all nine of Georgia's games in 2014 as she continues to build on her own school-record streak.
"I think a lot of teams make the decision to come in and sit in on Florida and bunker, and we didn't want to do that," said head coach Steve Holeman. "We wanted to play them straight up, and we were pretty effective with that in the first half. We were tied at halftime, and we had some great opportunities to finish. From what I can remember, this is the first time I've seen Florida make an adjustment out of their system, and they did well with it. They switched to a 3-5-2 in the second half and it allowed them to get more of the ball, get more possession, and that changed the game a bit. Credit them - they made an adjustment, got a great opportunity, and finished."
"We can certainly take some positives out of this," Holeman said. "The girls played incredibly well. We need to regroup - we have a tough challenge ahead of us on Sunday with a travel day tomorrow. We'll be back with some adjustments. We'll be ready to go."
Georgia controlled the possession for much of the first half after coming out and pressuring the Gators from the start, but it was Florida who took the 1-0 lead in the 24th minute as Lauren Silver sent a cross inside to an awaiting Brooke Sharp, who was able to beat the Bulldogs' rookie keeper Louise Hogrell for the early score.
But just over four minutes later, Georgia would knot things up as Garcia flicked a ball on to Seiler, whose touch found Crowder in front and the rookie finished from inside the six to make it a 1-1 game.
Georgia had its share of chances at the go-ahead as the first half waged on, but it remained tied at halftime with the Bulldogs out-shooting Florida 9-3 after 45:00.
Hogrell made a point-blank save on a shot for Florida's Savannah Jordan nearing the midway point of the second half, but it would be Jordan later in the half who stayed just on-side on a pass up from Claire Falknor, and after Hogrell came off her line and got a hand on Jordan's initial look, she would follow it up on an empty net to put the Gators up 2-1 with under 20 minutes to go and Georgia in need of the late comeback.
Georgia saw a few opportunities late, including a Garcia header off a free kick in the waning moments, but the Gators were able to hang on for the win - improving to 26-2-1 all-time vs. Georgia with the Bulldogs still looking for the program's first ever win in Gainesville.
The Bulldogs tonight saw their five-game winning streak come to an end. At game's end, Georgia led in the shot column 12-10, though they were held to just three after the intermission. The Gators (7-2, 2-0) took 11 corner kicks on the night to Georgia's five, while Hogrell ended with four saves.
Georgia will take on the Gamecocks on Sunday at 1 p.m., with live audio and blog coverage available on Georgiadogs.com.
