Lady Vols chomp Florida Gators in SEC Tournament
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (BVM) — While the SEC Women’s Soccer tournament started this past Sunday with the play-in games, the real fun did not start until Tuesday afternoon. The Tennessee Lady Vols, coming off of a bye, defeated the Florida Gators in quarterfinal play 5-2 at the Orange Beach Sportsplex in Orange Beach, Alabama.
No. 12 Tennessee came into the game trying to keep their SEC Championship hopes alive while taking on a well-known foe.
Highlights from the quarterfinals 🎬#SECSOC pic.twitter.com/201WIwXlqz
— Tennessee Soccer (@Vol_Soccer) November 3, 2021
Coming off of a strong game against the Kentucky Wildcats less than a week ago, the Lady Vols did not waste time jumping right into business and showing Florida who was boss. In the 17th minute of the game, Jaida Thomas powered home the first goal of the game. This marked the third game in a row where Thomas has scored. The goal came off of a costly mistake by Florida netminder, Alexa Goldberg, where she was trying to find a Florida defensive back and Thomas was on the prowl and took the ball right off of the keeper’s foot.
Roughly two minutes later another Tennessee goal was scored. This time the score came off the foot of Abbey Burdette as she made two attempts to get the ball through the wall of Florida defenders. The cap from Burdette is her first of the season, and it could not have come at a better time for this Tennessee team.
In the 23rd minute of the half, Florida’s Georgia Eaton-Collins cut the lead in half on a nice set play off of a free kick. Julianne Leskauskas sent a great ball to Eaton-Collins’ general area, and she made a point of finding the back of the net.
Aside from that one goal in the half, Tennessee netminder, Lindsey Romig, was outstanding in her return from injury.
Tennessee went into halftime leading 2-1 on the scoreboard, but they also led in every other stat. Tennessee had seven first half corner kicks and 13 shots with only six being on target. A crucial goal for Florida was called back due to an offsides call. This was possibly one thing that let Tennessee continue their dominance.
Starting the second half the Lady Vols came out flying. Freshman standout Taylor Huff scored what seemed to be the cementing goal for Tennessee 12 minutes into the half. A beautifully placed ball from Hannah Tillett found its way through several Florida players to the feet of Huff as she powered through the ball sending it right by an outstretched Goldberg. Just seconds after her goal, Huff got another quality chance putting a ball on target which was saved again by Goldberg.
Florida once again cut the lead in half in the 80th minute on a goal from Julianne Leskauskas that was assisted by Maddy Rhodes. Again, there was not a whole lot that Romig could do as this was a wonderfully placed ball.
Tennessee took back over after the Florida goal. Mackenzie George showed off her speed and physical play as she cut inside the 18-yard box along the baseline and placed the ball on a rope sending it by Goldberg. Essentially closing the door on the Gators, George has now scored in four straight games and scored her sixth goal of the season.
Four minutes later, Jaida Thomas put the final nail in the coffin scoring her tenth goal of the season and her second of the game. Thomas added a little flare on her last cap, giving the ball a slight flick sending it up, over and off the post and behind Goldberg.
“The good is that we won,” Tennessee Lady Vol head coach Brian Pensky said. “The bad is that we had to do it. The great is that we just keep responding when it gets a little bit tough and we were obviously able to put the game away with Jaida and George doing their things.”
Tennessee will look to continue its dominance against the Ole Miss Rebels on Thursday night at 8:30 p.m. on the SEC Network.
“Big time proud of our kids, they wanted this win really badly,” said Pensky. “They are excited to continue on here. It’s been a little while and look forward to playing the winner of this game ( between Ole Miss vs. Alabama), two good teams.”
