The No. 21 University of Florida soccer team (8-4-1, 4-1 SEC) used an early goal to take a 1-0 win over Vanderbilt (6-2-5, 2-1-2 SEC) Friday evening in front of a chilly Vanderbilt Soccer Complex crowd.

The two Gator goal leaders teamed up for the only goal of the match. Stacy Bishop had the ball at the top of the box and passed it to Ameera Abdullah, who was charging down the left side of the box. Abdullah took the shot to score from 12-yards at 5:22. Abdullah and Bishop now share the season goal lead with six goals each.

“Once again, the ball gets played down the right side and I just did my best to get there. The ball kind of got in front of me and I tried to go out so that I could block the ball from going out,” Abdullah said. “Then she (the VU defender) kind of gave it to me and I saw the keeper come out so I tried to slot it in between both of them.”

Florida looked to extend its lead in the 63^rd minute when it appeared Katie Green scored on a short shot that came from a free kick, but the goal was ruled off-side.

“It was a hard fought battle with Vanderbilt, as always. They have a pretty stingy defense, so I thought that was a great goal by Ameera to get us on the board early.,” UF Head Coach Becky Burleigh said. “It (the goal) held up and our defense held up. Brittni (Goodwin, UF’s goalkeeper) played great as well as our entire defense.”

Stoppage of play was frequent Friday, as a total of 24 fouls were called during the match. Abdullah said the Gators had to work out their strategy on Friday.

“It was kind of hard. We had some problems we had to figure out in the midfield and our overall strategy but we had some pretty good chances,” Abdullah said. “The goal that was called back shouldn’t have been called back from my point of view, but we had some pretty good chances and soon we will capitalize on all of them.”

Florida continues SEC Eastern Division road action when it meets Kentucky (7-5-1, 2-2 SEC) on Sunday, Oct. 8 at 1 p.m. in Lexington, Ky. The Wildcats faced South Carolina on Friday, posting a 1-0 win over Gamecocks. The match can be seen live on Sun Sports Network, with Andy Warner and Todd Kalas handling the announcing duties. The match can also be heard live on www.GatorZone.com.