The No. 15 University of Florida soccer team (11-4-3, 7-1-2 SEC) and Louisiana State (8-8-3, 3-4-3 SEC) played to a 1-1 double-overtime tie Sunday afternoon in front of a LSU Soccer Complex crowd of 602.

The tie clinches at least a share of the Southeastern Conference regular-season title for the Gators – the seventh in the program’s 12-year history and first since 2001. Florida will head into its final match of the regular season with 23 points. Vanderbilt is second at 20 after posting a 4-0 win at Mississippi State Sunday afternoon. No other league team is in position to tie Florida with a win in its final league match.

Florida and LSU played Sunday’s match on a soggy field that was still showing the effects of the more than inch of rain Baton Rouge received Saturday evening. For both teams, it was the second overtime contest of the weekend, as Florida defeated Arkansas 1-0 2OT and LSU lost 2-1 2OT at South Carolina on Friday. This was the sixth overtime match for Florida this season, matching the second-highest number of overtime contests in a single season. The Gators played in seven overtime matches in the 2002 season.

LSU broke the scoreless tie in the 60^th minute when Joleen Phillips took a shot when was deflected by UF goalkeeper Brittni Goodwin but Roslyn Jones was there to put the deflection in at the far post.

Florida tied the match at 77:52 when Stacy Bishop fought off a pair of LSU defenders to get to the endline. Her cross was met by the lunging foot of Ashlee Elliott. who just placed the ball in at the near post. It was Elliott’s fourth goal of the season.

“I was thinking ‘Come on Stacy!’. I didn’t know if she was going to cross it or shoot it. I had no clue what she was going to do,” Elliott said. “But I was standing right there wide open when she crossed it and I just slid in for it.

“I’ve played on a wet field before, but nothing like that,” Elliott said. “I thought it was a lot of fun. I loved the mud and the slip and slide, but it also is hard and difficult to play in.”

UF Head Coach Becky Burleigh was happy with the way her team handled the conditions Sunday.

“This was just a really difficult match to play. The conditions were a big leveler. We like to play ball to feet, which was very difficult to do today. It was frustrating, but I think it showed a lot of courage on the part of our team to come back and get that equalizer. That was huge,” Burleigh said. “It was a great effort by Bishop and Elliott to score. Bishop beat a couple of people and Elliott finished a great goal.”

Next up, Florida plays its final Southeastern Conference regular-season match, traveling to meet South Carolina (11-5-3, 5-2-3 SEC) on Friday, Oct. 27 at 7 p.m.  Friday’s match can be heard live on WRUF

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