Kentucky women’s soccer (9-3-1, 3-1-1 SEC) tied with Florida (4-5-3, 0-2-3 SEC) by a final score of 1-1.
Within the first minute, the Cats’ offense was off and running when Tanner Strickland fired a shot on goal, but the shot bounced off the top of the crossbar.
The junior from Tampa Bay, Fla. has been one of the main pieces of Kentucky’s dynamic attack this year with two goals and five assists.
Both teams continued to apply pressure on both nets, but no one found the mark.
It wasn’t until the 17th minute where Florida’s Addy Hess scored off a pass from Megan Hinnenkamp to give the Gators the early 1-0 lead.
Hess, a redshirt freshman from South Riding, Va., has become a bigger and bigger piece of this Gators’ team as the year has gone on. She has three goals and three assists on the year and tallied 82 minutes played in the match, a season high for her.
Katherine Truitt nearly responded only two minutes later when she put a shot on goal, but it was saved by Florida goalie Paloma Peña.
The next 15 minutes were mostly controlled by Florida, and they continued to apply pressure on the Kentucky defense, but none of its pressures found the net.
The closest Florida came to extending the lead was when Njeri Butts fired a shot, but it was scooped up by Kentucky goalie Khadijah Cissé.
Cissé, a freshman from Montréal, Québec, has had a solid year with the Cats so far, with 18 saves.
The game went to halftime with Florida still holding its 1-0 lead and remaining in control of the match.
The Gators came out swinging in the second half when in the 47th minute, Hinnenkamp fired a shot at the goal, but the shot was saved by Cissé.
Things started to turn in the Cats’ favor as they began to apply pressure on the Gator defense. They struck gold when Thalia Morisi scored off a centered pass from Alexis Tylenda.
With that assist, Tylenda now leads the team in total points with 16. The sophomore from Pittsburgh, Pa., has been a force for the Kentucky attack. She and Anna Sikorski lead the team in goals with six.
The Cats continued to go on the attack, and in the 61st minute, Sydni Fink almost gave the Cats the lead with a shot on goal that was saved by Peña.
Kentucky got more chances as the game progressed, but one big chance came in the 76th minute when Truitt fired another shot on goal, but it was scooped up by Peña.
The rest of the match continued to go back-and-forth with both teams applying pressure, but no one could find the back of the net.
Both the Cats and the Gators had seven shots; four of those for Kentucky were on goal. Both offenses showed how fast and explosive they were, but only two of those 14 total shots found the net, with the game ending in a 1-1 draw.
The Cats return home to the Bell for its next match on Sunday, Oct. 5th at 1 p.m., where they will look to get back in the win column in a conference matchup with the Vanderbilt Commodores. The match will be streamed live on SEC Network+.