A week after suffering through two slow starts to open Southeastern Conference play, Florida's offense wasted no time getting to work against Vanderbilt on Friday night.
The No. 12 Gators (9-3, 2-1 SEC) had a slew of chances in the opening half of their 2-0 win, including a McKenzie Barney shot that was blocked by the Commodores (6-5, 0-3 SEC) and a Holly King shot that went off the cross bar.
“The only thing that wasn’t efficient about our play in that game was our finishing,” coach Becky Burleigh said. “We certainly left a few out there.”
In the 23rd minute, Florida was able to break through when defender Maggie Rodgers controlled an Annie Speese corner kick. Rodgers played the ball through the middle of the box, and it deflected off the foot of a Commodore defender and rolled directly to an open Erika Tymrak at the top of the box. Tymrak fired a shot from 20 yards out into the upper right corner of the net for her team-high ninth goal of the season.
“I just looked up and I kind of had space,” Tymrak said. “I took a touch and just ripped it, and it went in.”
The Gators capitalized on another corner kick in the 36th minute when Lindsay Thompson controlled the ball off of the corner. Thompson passed it to Havana Solaun by the left side of the box. Solaun played the ball to the right side of the box right in front of the net where King flicked it in from 5 yards out for her second goal of the season.
“I saw a pathway, and Holly was just standing there kind of calling for the ball,” Solaun said. “So I just slid it through and she had an awesome finish.”
Florida improved from a porous effort last Sunday against Tennessee – in which it gave up a season-high four goals – with one of its most dominant defensive performances of the year.
Not only did the Gators keep a clean sheet for the seventh time this season, they also held the Commodores to just three shots for the entire game, two of which were on goal.
“We played compact,” defender Kat Williamson said. “In the past, especially in the Tennessee game, we got split. Turnovers were a big key too. We sharpened it up. We didn’t really play a lot of square balls that could get intercepted.”
While Florida scored all the goals it would need in the first half, Burleigh was displeased that her team was not able to convert on its opportunities in the final 45 minutes.
The Gators were able to score on two of their three shots on goal in the first half, but were unable to put away any of their five shots that were on-frame in the second half.
In addition to the poor finishing, the injury bug hit Florida on two seperate occasions.
Defender Katie Kadera left the game in the 21st minute, but was able to walk off on her own power. Then in the 73rd minute, King exited the pitch after suffering an injury to her right ankle while going for a tackle.
