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UNIVERSITY OF TAMPA

Women's Soccer

After a scoreless first half, the 14th-ranked University of Tampa (15-2-2) women's soccer team scored a pair of second half goals to defeat Rollins (10-8-1) by a score of 2-0 in the Sunshine state Conference tournament semifinals. The Spartans advance to meat Saint Leo for the SSC title.

After 49 minutes of scoreless play, Tampa's offense forced Rollins into an uneasy situation as UT fired three consecutive shots, with the third sailing past goalkeeper Stina Lykke Petersen. The Spartan goal was credited to Marissa Bernard from Alison Penland.

The second Tampa goal, which came at 71:18, made history for Shelby Kuni as she tied Tai Kirklin for first on UT's all-time goals list. The junior from Houston now has 51 career goals, 12 in 2007. The record-tying goal was assisted by Emily Stack and Brittney Evans.

The Spartans were able to keep the ball in their offensive zone for the majority of the game as UT outshot the Tars 21-11. Of those, Tampa outshot Rollins 11-3 on goal. Corner kicks were 8-2 in favor of the Spartans.

The game also marked the 10th shutout of the season for UT goalkeeper Shannon Aitken. She finished with three saves on the evening.

Tampa and Saint Leo are now set to meet for the 2007 SSC tournament championship on Sunday at 1 p.m. The game will be a rematch of last season's title game, which was a 4-3 Tampa victory in double overtime.

FLORIDA

Women's Soccer

The No. 22 University of Florida soccer team (12-4-2, 8-2 SEC) defeated Southeastern Conference Eastern Division rival South Carolina (13-5-2, 5-4-2 SEC) 2-0 Friday evening in front of a James G. Pressly crowd of 926.

The win was the eighth consecutive for the Gators and the seventh shutout during that stretch. The loss was the first for the Gamecocks this season that was decided by more than a single goal.

After Georgia defeated SEC leader Tennessee 3-0 Friday in Athens, Ga., the Gators now have the opportunity to play for the SEC title on Sunday when Vanderbilt comes to town. The other 10 league team completed SEC regular-season play Friday evening. The original date for the UF-VU match was postponed until Sunday due to inclement weather in the Gainesville area on Oct. 5. Friday's win gave Georgia 26 points in the SEC standings, moving the Bulldogs into first, followed by Tennessee (25 points) and Florida (24 points). The Gators need the three points awarded for a win in Sunday's match to claim their second consecutive league title.

In Friday's action, the Gators used a goal from each half to take the win. A free kick was awarded in the 28th minute when senior Ashley Harris was knocked to the ground just a few paces above the 18-yard box.

Three Gators - Stacy Bishop, Melanie Booth and KeLeigh Hudson - stood over the ball, discussing who would take the kick. Bishop then joined the players in the box, leaving the two to decide. It was Booth who took the left-footed kick, bending the ball to the upper slot for her first goal of the season. The goal was also the first free kick score by the Gators in 2007.

"The position of the ball was more likely for a left-footed shot. KeLeigh just told me to shoot it, so listened to her," Booth said about the discussion before the shot. "It felt pretty good. It's a goal and it's going to get us ahead in the game - that's all I was really thinking about."

Florida had several great looks at the goal in the second half, but it took until the 80th minute for UF to get its second score. Harris had the ball low in the box. She laid it back to Ashlee Elliott, who hit the seven-yard shot to the upper corner of the far post. It was Elliott's second consecutive match with a goal and her third of the season.

"I decided to go take it up for once. I've been doing that and the coaches have been allowing me to go forward a lot. I combined with Ashley and it was a bouncy ball, so I just followed it in and I got a goal," Elliott said. "It was a lofted goal, not one of the prettiest, but it was a good goal."

Florida Head Coach Becky Burleigh knew that the USC backline would be tough to beat, as the Gamecocks had recorded 11 shutouts heading into Friday's match.

"We knew coming into the game that South Carolina was going to be very well organized defensively. They were and I thought they did a good job with that," she said. "I was impressed with our team's ability to limit their offense in the second half. They had four shots at halftime and they ended the game with four shots. That was a real credit to our team's ability to shut that down."

For the match, the Gators outshot the Gamecocks 12-4. The shutout was the 11th for UF this season. Next up, the Gators play host to Vanderbilt (6-8-3, 3-4-2 SEC) on Sunday, Nov. 4. Match time is set for 12:30 p.m. at Pressly Stadium and Florida's eight member senior class will be honored in a pre-match ceremony. Match statistics plus streaming audio and video of the UF-VU match can be found on www.GatorZone.com.

Tennis

The University of Florida's Megan Alexander and Lolita Frangulyan won their respective matches on the first day of singles play at the Southeastern Conference Fall Classic held at the Luther Young Tennis Complex on Friday.

Alexander emerged from a three-hour battle against Georgia's Yvette Hyndman with a 4-6, 7-6, 6-1 victory to advance to Saturday's Flight 1 quarterfinal round where she'll face Auburn's Melissa Koning. Frangulyan overpowered LSU's Nicole Kantor, 6-1, 6-1, in the Flight 2 round of 16, with the Gator senior next playing Georgia's Monika Dancevic in Saturday morning's quarterfinal slate. Alexander and Frangulyan paired earlier in the Flight A doubles draw where the Gator tandem dropped an 8-2 decision to Georgia's Dancevic and Kelley Hyndman. UF's pair will return to the court in consolation action on Saturday.

"We just didn't execute on the doubles court at all, but Lolita and Megan were able to put it behind them and looked like completely different players in singles," UF associate head coach Dave Balogh said.

"Megan battled extremely hard and played an amazing third set against a very tough opponent. I'm proud of the way she kept her focus and got an impressive win today." SEC Fall Classic Luther Young Tennis Complex Auburn, Ala.

FLORIDA STATE

Baseball

The Garnet team swept the fall scrimmage downing the Gold team 7-5 Friday evening on Mike Martin Field inside Dick Howser Stadium. The Seminole newcomers saw a majority of the action on the mound with the exception of senior lefthander Trent Jarvis who threw two innings for the Gold team. Freshman Mike McGee tallied three hits, while junior transfer Tony Delmonico went 2-for-3 with two RBI's to pace the Garnet team. Dennis Guinn went 1-for-3 with a three-run home run to lead team Gold. The game concluded on Friday after eight innings.

Highlights from Friday's scrimmage:

The Garnet team took an early 1-0 lead as freshman Stuart Tapley led off the game with one of his five walks on the evening. He would advance to third on a double play groundout and later score on a passed ball.

Geoff Parker started for the Gold team as he threw two innings allowing one run, unearned, on two hits. The freshman right hander struck out three and walked two

Elih Villanueva, a transfer from Miami-Dade Community College, started for the Garnet team and threw three perfect innings facing the minimum. Villanueva struck out two in his Seminole debut.

The Gold team jumped on top in the top of the fourth thanks to a three-run home run to left center off the bat of senior Dennis Guinn. The blast scored Tyler Holt, who led off the inning with a single to right and Jack Rye, who reached on a fielder's choice.

The lead was short lived as the Garnet team scored three runs in the bottom half of the fourth to tie the game at 4-4. McGee led off the inning with his second hit in as many at-bats, while Harrison Lam followed with a walk. After a walk to Luke Smierciak, Matt Kane drew an RBI bases loaded walk to score McGee. Lam would come around to score on back-to-back throwing errors by the Gold team, while Delmonico polished off the scoring with a sacrifice fly to center field scoring Smierciak.

Jarvis pitched two innings of scoreless ball for the Gold squad as he allowed one hit and walked three. McGee, who registered the win on Friday night, pitched two scoreless innings as he gave up just one hit and a walk.

The Garnet team would take the lead for good in the seventh as Lam scored on a wild pitch and Kane added the sixth run of the ball game on a bases loaded walk by Delmonico.

Quotes from Friday's scrimmage:

Head coach Mike Martin

On the main thing he was hoping to get out of fall practice:

"We are trying to decide who our three main pitchers will be. We felt like Elih Villanueva definitely established himself as one of those three as well as Ryan Strauss. We were also very impressed with Matt Fairel. But we knew coming in what Strauss and Fairel could do, we just want to figure out how we are going to use Fairel being the left hander that he was last year."

On replacing a great deal of the infield from last year's team:

"It's still a work in progress. I thought Tony Delmonico played very well this fall and we certainly had some other guys that stepped in and did a good job."

On Tony Delmonico and how his veteran leadership at shortstop will help this season:

"It certainly relaxes you to the point where you don't have to worry about throwing a freshman over there like we have done in previous seasons. He is also replacing a guy (Mark Hallberg) that was in here for the first time (last year) and was one of the best shortstops we have ever had at Florida State."

Buster Posey:

On fall practice and what this team was able to accomplish:

"It was a great fall and I felt like we got a lot done. The pitchers did a great job and everyone is still learning. But we will get it figured out for when we come back in the spring."

On playing both catcher and pitcher in 2008:

"We are going to have to see if that is something that I will have to do and if it is then I will embrace that role. I really think I'll enjoy it, it should be fun."

Tony Delmonico

On his first fall practice in a Florida State uniform:

"It felt great! I was excited to come here and really didn't know what to expect. After the fall, we're all excited. We have a young group of players mixed in with some veterans, who are doing a great job of teaching the young guys how to play this game. After these last two games, I think we are all comfortable. I don't know who will play where in the spring, but we are going to throw a pitcher out there to beat anybody and we are going to give you a lineup that will be tough one through nine."

Thursday's Scrimmage Highlights:

The Garnet team blanked the Gold team 9-0 in the first of two scrimmage games to wrap-up the 2007 Fall Baseball season on Mike Martin Field inside Dick Howser Stadium. Thursday's scrimmage went five innings lasting a little over an hour and a half.

Matt Fairel got the win for the Garnet team throwing three shutout innings allowing three hits. The sophomore left hander struck out two and walked two. Buster Posey threw an inning in relief and faced just one batter over the minimum as he registered a strike out. Posey also played two innings behind the plate and threw out a pair of attempted base stealers on the afternoon.

On the Gold side, senior Ryan Strauss started and threw two perfect innings striking out a batter. Jimmy Marshall came in for an inning of work, while Bo O'Dell threw two innings.

Jack Posey and Ohmed Danesh led the offensive charge for the Garnet team as the two combined to drive in five runs. Jack Posey finished the game 1-for-2 with a run scored and three RBI's, while Danesh went 1-for-3 with two runs scored and two RBI's.

Freshman Matt Kane got things started for the Garnet team in the top of the third as he laced a single to left field scoring Posey from third and Luke Smierciak from second, who hit a double down the left field line in his at-bat.

The outfield of Ruairi O'Connor, Tyler Holt and Jack Rye had all four hits for the Gold team. O'Connor was a perfect 2-for-2 at the plate with a pair of singles, while Rye went 1-for-1 with a single and a walk.

The fall season will conclude on Friday, November 2 with game two of the Garnet and Gold game slated to start at 6:00 pm. Admission to the game is free.

[Last modified November 3, 2007, 03:06:28]