The No. 19 University of Florida soccer team dropped its opening match of the Westfield Cup 1-0 to Old Dominion Thursday afternoon. The preseason collegiate tournament is being played at the University of Akron’s Lee R. Jackson Field.

The Monarchs scored early when Janna Pearson beat her defender in the Florida half. She dribbled to the goal and placed her 10-foot shot in the far corner of the net.

The Gators had some excellent scoring opportunities in both halves. Cherry Pickman appeared to score off a goalkeeper deflection in the 27^th minute, but the official nullified the goal after calling a foul on the kick. Florida couldn’t convert any of its 17 corner kicks for a goal. With eight minutes remaining in the match, the Gators got a couple of shots off a Melanie Booth corner kick, but they couldn’t get any across the goal line. Even with the seconds waning, the Gators kept looking for the equalizer. Freshman Katie Green’s eight-yard shot in the final 15 seconds was stopped by ODU’s goalkeeper Colby Owen.

“We dominated the match, but that obviously doesn’t matter because ODU won 1-0. We must learn from this match and learn quickly. We need to find that extra effort to get the win. Everyone got to play significant minutes tonight. We will be looking for the players that are willing to leave it all on the field,” UF Head Coach Becky Burleigh said.

Florida will play in the consolation match Saturday at 3 p.m., facing Jacksonville State. Akron defeated JSU 2-0 in Thursday’s second match.