No. 5 Florida (11-2, 6-0 Southeastern Conference) defeated unranked Mississippi State (3-10, 0-6 SEC) 5-1 Friday on breast cancer awareness night, complete with pink goal nets, field lines and even pink uniforms donned by Florida.
However, the start of the game was anything but rosy for the Gators.
Just more than a minute into the game, the Bulldogs capitalized on a corner kick to stun the Florida crowd and take the early lead 1-0. The Mississippi State players seemed equally surprised, and their jubilation was clearly evident on the field.
Florida had to respond quickly, and it did just that with a Savannah Jordan goal in the ninth minute, her team-leading 10th of the season.
From that point on, the Gators dominated possession throughout the rest of the half, but were unable to translate their control of the ball into goals.
Although they took nine shots in the first half, the Gators lacked the necessary quality on their final passes and shots, often shooting wide of the goal. They were only able to force Mississippi State’s goalkeeper to make one save apart from the goal from Jordan.
The second half opened similarly to how the first half ended, with Florida controlling every facet of the game but failing to put the ball in the back of the net.
Needing a breakthrough, Florida turned to its playmaker Savannah Jordan.
She did not disappoint.
In the 64th minute, Florida defender Tessa Andujar brought the ball up the right side of Mississippi State’s third of the pitch and sent a curling cross into the box for Jordan, who somehow managed to get a piece of the ball with her torso while colliding with the Bulldog defender, knocking it past the goalkeeper to score for the 11th time this year and giving the Gators the 2-1 lead.
“Tessa served a great ball in and it missed the first defender and kinda went over,” Jordan said, “and then me and the other girl collided, and it kinda hit both of us and went in the goal. It was a great service by Tessa.”
It proved to be just the first such service from Andujar, who played her best game of the season against Mississippi State.
She put the Gators up 3-1 with a goal of her own in the 70th minute with a cheeky chip shot – with her less-preferred left foot no less – right over the goalkeeper’s head from nine yards out, and then added her second assist of the night when she set up a Brooke Sharp goal in the 73rd minute. Andujar leads the team with nine assists this year.
With the floodgates opened, Florida’s Betsy Middleton put home the team’s final goal – a 22-yard strike – to give Florida the 5-1 win.
Florida outshot the Bulldogs by a whopping 23-5 in the game, and coach Becky Burleigh said even though the team trailed so early on, she never felt any panic from the players, as evidenced by the way they continued to attack.
“It was certainly not the way we wanted to start the game, but I thought it was a good response by our team to come back and get that goal to equalize,” she said.
“I think our team is pretty confident, no matter what. But to face that adversity early just gave us a good chance to show our resilience and bounce back.”
Tessa Andujar echoed Burleigh’s comments.
“I think when we went into the locker room at halftime, we just talked about what we needed to do and we kept it really positive,” she said. “We just said we needed to bring more energy and come out with energy from the start and match their energy…and I think we were really confident in the way that we play.”
Follow Graham Hack on Twitter @graham_hack24
Tessa Andujar (15) congratulates Savannah Jordan (7) after Jordan's second goal during Florida's 5-1 win against Mississippi State on Friday night at James G. Pressly Stadium.
