Game #5: #1 Florida 3, #5 Kentucky 1
BATON ROUGE — The University of Florida advanced to its sixth-straight Southeastern Conference Tournament Championship game with a 3-1 victory over the Kentucky Wildcats in Friday night’s first semifinal game at the LSU Soccer Complex.
Florida (16-3-1) advanced to play the winner of the second semifinal game between Ole Miss and Auburn. Kentucky fell to 12-7-1. The Gators outshot the Wildcats, 17-4, including 11-2 on-goal.
The Wildcats were able to take advantage of a defensive breakdown by the Gators when Jen Wilkinson’s shot was deflected past a Florida defender to the feet of Annie Gage. Gage took one touch into the center of the penalty area before passing Gator keeper Jordan Kellgren for a 1-0 lead.
Abby Wambach, the 5-10 All-America forward for Florida, answered with two goals off the head at 18:26 and 32:30 to take a 2-1 lead. Karyn Hall’s direct kick to the left side of the goal box led to the first goal, before Danielle Rust connected with her on a perfectly executed 40-yard pass into center of the penalty area.
Midway through the second half, Wambach completed the hat trick at 68:57 when she started a give-and-go with Andi Sellers and fired past Kentucky’s Beth Wells from 10 yards.
Florida 3, Kentucky 1
Scoring: Florida, Wambach, 18:26 (assist Hall), Wambach, 32:30 (assist Rust), Wambach, 68:57 (assist Sellers).
Game #6: #6 Auburn 2, #7 Ole Miss 1
BATON ROUGE — In the second match of the Southeastern Conference semi-finals, Auburn got past Ole Miss by a score of 2-1, advancing to the Championship game to meet the Florida Gators on Sunday at the LSU Soccer Complex.
Ole Miss took an early lead only 10:05 into the match as defender Kristin Chapman found the wide-open midfielder Anna Sanders for the easy goal.
Auburn answered the call less than 7 minutes later when Kellie Evans knocked in the header past the Ole Miss keeper. Erin Hinson was credited with the assist.
Going into the half, the match was even at 1-1.
The Tigers come out firing in the second half as freshman midfielder Michelle Mione scored over the UM keepers head from 10-yards out. Ginger Sellick got the assist as she found Mione streaking towards the goal. Auburn would take the 2-1 lead.
Ole Miss goalkeepers Melinda Smith and Brittany Gillespie would keep the Rebels in the match as they combined for 7 saves on the night but the Rebels couldn?t get the offense going. The Tigers outshot Ole Miss 20-9 and 9-4 on-goal, and did not let go of the lead for the remainder of the match.
#6 Seeded Auburn will face the #1 Florida Gators to decide the SEC Champions at 2:30 p.m. (CDT) on Sunday afternoon at the LSU Soccer Complex. The game will be televised by SEC-TV.