The No. 19 University of Florida soccer team defeated Jacksonville State 3-1 Saturday afternoon in the consolation match of the Westfield Cup. The preseason collegiate tournament was played at the University of Akron’s Lee R. Jackson Field. Old Dominion won the Westfield Cup title with a 1-0 win over Akron in the title match.

Lightening caused the teams to be pulled from the field in the 53^rd minute with the score tied at zero. Play resumed 50 minutes later. JSU freshman Kristi Pereira scored on a breakaway shortly after the delay to give the Gamecocks the 1-0 lead.

The Gators got tying goal from sophomore Bianca Gibbs at 58:40 when she put the pass from senior Cherry Pickman in at the far post.

“Cherry had her back to goal and the ball came out of the midfield to her feet. I came across and she passed it back to me. I took it with my right foot, tapped it to my left and took the shot,” Gibbs said.

Pickman got a goal of her own at 67:19 when she and freshman Megan Kerns found themselves with a numbers advantage in the box. Kerns passed Pickman the ball, who beat the goalkeeper with a short shot.

The final Gator score was an unassisted goal by sophomore KeLeigh Hudson at 85:06.

“I was making my run from the middle to the left side,” Hudson said. “The ball got behind the defenders and I saw that I was 1v1 with the goalkeeper. She took away the near post so I had to cut it back to get it away from the near post so that I had a clear goal. Then I took the shot.”

Florida placed two on the Westfield Cup All-Tournament team – junior midfielder Ananda Erickson and Kerns.

The Gators again used every player in Saturday’s Westfield Cup competition. UF Head Coach Becky Burleigh said it was a good chance to see players in game competition and for them to learn from the opportunity.

“In these two preseason matches, we’ve been committed to playing every player on the team. We’re going to learn some lessons,” UF Head Coach Becky Burleigh said. “Today we were down a goal and we scored three to win it. That was a good start for us. We’ve got a long way to go, but we saw some of the character of our team coming back from being down a goal.”

Florida opens the season Friday, August 26 by playing host to Drake. Match time is set for 7 p.m. at the James G. Pressly Stadium and admission is free. Live, streaming video of UF-Drake match will also be available. For more information, click on the GatorVision Online button at www.gatorzone.com, the official website of the Florida Gators. Friday’s match can also be heard live on WRUF-AM 850.