The No. 23 University of Florida soccer team (10-4-2, 6-2 SEC) defeated Arkansas (8-9-1, 1-7-1 SEC) 1-0 Thursday evening in front of a Lady ‘Back Field crowd of 570. The win was the sixth consecutive for the Gators and the fifth shutout during that stretch.

The win marked the fifth consecutive one-goal victory between these two teams, with each of the last three coming by a 1-0 score. UF leads the all-time series with Arkansas 12-0.

“Arkansas made it hard because they had nine behind the ball all the time. They put a lot of pressure on us in terms of getting numbers behind the ball. We are happy to get out of here with a win,” UF Head Coach Becky Burleigh said. “It was difficult but it was a good goal for the 1-0 victory. Three points (awarded to a team for a win in the SEC standings) on the road is something that we will take every time.”

Florida scored in the opening half when after a right side run by Caitlin Howard. She found room deep in the Lady ‘Back end to cross the ball to the far post. Ashley Harris put the ball in untouched off a diving header at 37:23 for her team-leading seventh goal of the season.

“I knew Caitlin was going to get the cross off but it was a little bit off the ground. I was worried that I was going to kick it over the net with the pace that it had. So I decided to get on the ground and do a diving header because that would keep it low,” Harris said. “That is one thing that Vic (Campbell, UF’s Associate Head Coach) has been telling us to do in this situation because when we hit it with our head, it has been going in. I just wanted to keep it down because if I couldn’t get it in, maybe someone else would.

It was Harris’ second consecutive game-winning goal versus the Lady ‘Backs. She scored the only goal of the 2006 match in the 106^th minute to give UF the 1-0 2OT win in Gainesville.

Florida did have opportunities to extend its lead in the second hall off of some nice work by the Gators. In the 64^th minute, freshman Karly Findorff intercepted an Arkansas pass at the top of the Florida box. She brought the ball forward and sent it right to KeLeigh Hudson. She created space so that she could send the ball to the top of the box where Megan Kerns looked to have a play but she let it go past her to Stacy Bishop, who took the shot but it was high. Just a couple of minutes later, KeLeigh Hudson crossed the ball back to the same vicinity, but Ashlee Elliott’s shot was wide of the far post.

In the 75^th minute, Findorff found herself with choices for Gators in the box. She sent the ball to KeLeigh Hudson, but her shot was deflected wide by Arkansas goal keeper Britni Williams at the far post. Later in the 79^th minute, an open KeLeigh Hudson received the ball in the box, but was too deep to take a shot. She crossed the ball across the goal but Megan Kerns’ run was just a step away from the ball. Florida recorded 10 shots on goal Thursday.

With five minutes remaining in regulation, Arkansas’ committed a foul in the Florida box, which negated the shot that Lindsay Patterson appeared to score on. The play seemed to pump up the Arkansas’ energy level and the Gators fought off the Lady ‘Backs pressure to preserve the win.

“They tried to attack more rather instead of trying to get out of their defensive mode a little bit,” Burleigh said. “But I thought we did a pretty good job of absorbing their pressure.”

Next up, the Gators return home to play host to their final three matches of the 2007 regular season. Action at the James G. Pressly Stadium begins Sunday, Oct. 28 at noon with Western Division leader LSU (10-2-5, 4-1-3 SEC). Sunday’s match will be broadcast live on FSN-Florida (Cox cable 70 in Gainesville/Ocala). The first 500 fans at Sunday’s match will receive a replica jersey bottle koozie. Match statistics and streaming audio of the match can also be found on www.GatorZone.com.