The University of Florida soccer team (4-3-1) couldn’t find the tying score to an early North Carolina goal, dropping a 1-0 decision to No. 5 North Carolina (8-1) Sunday afternoon in the second day of action at the Duke adidas Classic held at the Koskinen Stadium.

A misplay on the Gator backline resulted in the Tar Heel’s only goal. UNC’s Heather O’Reilly, a member of the U.S. 2004 Olympic soccer team, pounced on a pass between two Gator defenders near the top of the UF box and buried the ball in the net at the far post at 16:39.

“It was tough because we gave them a goal,” UF Head Coach Becky Burleigh said. “And that was us just trying to do what we do well, which is keep the ball. It was just an unfortunate situation and we gave away the ball and they scored. I don’t want us to get away from not trying to keep the ball. We hope mistakes like that don’t happen, but it does, and it cost us the game today.”

Florida did have a couple of great opportunities in the opening 45 minutes. In the 13^th minute, the Gators had the ball deep in the Tar Heel half. Ashlee Elliott crossed the ball into the box, where Stacy Bishop tapped it over to Ameera Abdullah, who was making a far post run. Abdullah’s off-balance shot was just wide of the post. Late in the half, the Tar Heels attempted to clear a Gator free kick attempt out of the box, but Bianca Gibbs intercepted the ball near the top of the box. UNC goalkeeper Anna Rodenbough made a diving save on Gibbs’ shot to keep the Gators scoreless in the opening half.

Senior Brittni Goodwin helped keep the Tar Heels scoreless in the second half with three saves, including a stop on a UNC penalty kick. The penalty kick was awarded when Abdullah was whistled for a hand ball in the box at 64:11. Yael Averbuch took the shot, but Goodwin made the save at the post.

“From the way she stepped up, I said ‘She’s going (to my) left’ and she went left,” Goodwin said. “You see enough PKs in practice that you kind of learn to read their body language a little bit and that’s what I got from her.”

Off-sides calls were the bane of the Gators Sunday afternoon, as they were whistled a total of 11 times for the call. But she was pleased with the effort the Gators showed Sunday.

“We had the intensity and the effort,” Burleigh said.”I think our next step is to keep that intensity and effort and keep the ball at the same time,” Burleigh said. “If we can put those things together, we can beat anybody.”

Florida continues play versus top 20 opponents when it travels to No. 20 Auburn for the Southeastern Conference opener on Friday, Sept. 22 at 8 p.m. (ET). The UF-AU match can be heard live on WRUF AM 850.