There was an SEC showdown in Daytona Beach, Florida, on Thursday night as the UK women’s soccer team visited the Florida Gators in hopes of a win to secure their spot in the SEC standings. The Cats came up short with a 2-0 loss to Florida.

A statement was released by the University of Florida Athletics Association on Tuesday evening, stating that Thursday nights’ match, which was originally supposed to be played on Florida’s campus in Gainesville, was going to be moved to Daytona Beach at Embry-Riddle Soccer Stadium.

The Florida Gators are ranked 20th in the country and are sitting nicely in the No. 2 spot in the SEC standings after this win against UK. They only have four losses on the season.

UK was without their usual starters for this match due to injuries. Goalkeeper Evangeline Soucie, midfielder Hollie Olding and defender Payton Atkins were not playing in this match against the Gators.

Both sides remained scoreless for almost the entirety of the first half, but then Florida’s junior midfielder Sarah Troccoli scored with 30 seconds left in the first half, making the score 1-0 in favor of the Gators. This was Troccoli’s first goal of the season.

Both teams earned one corner kick a piece in the first half. Florida took seven total shots in the first 45 minutes, but UK only took two. Florida had two shots on goal while UK had zero.

During the second half, UK started producing some much needed offense, but the Gators quickly struck again against the Cats’ defense with only seven minutes gone in the second half.

The goal came from freshman forward Madison Alexander. This was Alexander’s second goal of the season.

The Wildcats will be back in the Bell on Sunday afternoon for their final home game of the season. They will be hosting the University of Arkansas with the game time set at 2 p.m.