GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Florida scored a pair of first-half goals en route to a 3-1 win over the University of South Alabama in the first round of the NCAA Women's Soccer Tournament Friday night at Donald R. Dizney Stadium.

The Jaguars end their 2017 campaign with a 14-6-1 record. The Gators move on to the second round with a 15-6 mark.

GAME FACTS
- South Alabama held Florida to just four shots – and only one on goal – in the first 33 minutes until the Gators finally broke through
- Florida didn't seriously test USA sophomore goalkeeper Justice Stanford until the 29th minute when a shot by Mayra Pelayo was tipped over the bar
- The Gators broke the scoreless deadlock at 33:54 when Sarah Troccoli fed Gabby Seiler on a throughball in the left channel, and Seiler found Madison Alexander wide open at the top of the six-yard box, who tapped it in
- Melanie Monteagudo added to the Gators' lead 10 minutes later, fighting through two Jaguar defenders and drilling a shot in off the right post from the top of the penalty area
- Troccoli and Monteagudo teamed up for Florida's third goal of the night at 54:03
- USA junior Audrey Duren scored her first career goal in the 85th minute to make it a 3-1 scoreline after taking advantage of a bad backpass to the keeper
- Stanford allowed all three goals and made two saves in 90 minutes for the Jags
- Florida's Kaylan Marckese was not called upon to make a save and permitted the one goal
- The Gators outshot the Jaguars 11-4 and held a 5-1 advantage in shots on goal
- UF will face either South Florida or Florida Gulf Coast in the round of 32

NOTES
- South Alabama dropped to 1-5 all-time in the NCAA Tournament, and 1-2 against the SEC in postseason play
- Rio Hardy ends her career second in school history with 43 goals and 103 points, and is the Jaguars' all-time leader in game-winning goals (14)
- Hardy's 16 goals this season are tied for third at USA, and her 37 points are tied for sixth
- Stanford finishes the year with a 0.93 goals against average, which is sixth in school history
- Tonight was the first time South Alabama scored in an NCAA Tournament loss, and it marks the fewest goals allowed in a postseason defeat as well
- USA is 1-5 vs. nationally-ranked opponents in the last two years, including 0-3 in 2017
- Friday was the first meeting between the two schools

THEY SAID IT
Head Coach Richard Moodie
Opening statement: "Thank you for the opportunity to be here.  To be a part of [NCAA] Division I soccer for the first time and have a season be this successful and see what these young ladies have put forth is remarkable, and to be playing against teams like Florida is remarkable.  All credit to them, they move the ball well; they were fantastic.  It was a great game, I would like to think that we are not too far off, maybe next year we can be back and we can have another go at it."

On what he said to the team at halftime: "We were a little disappointed, we were looking to break it up into nine 10-minute games.  We felt like if we could win the first we could get the second game and the third game.  It took them all the way through until there were 11 minutes left in the first half.  If we go in at halftime nil-nil it's a different game, we were 11 minutes away from making it a different game and then we conceded in the last few minutes.  At halftime we could see there was a fear factor coming to Florida, it's a massive place and we were looking around thinking this is a great place to be.  In the second half we settled in, the problem being now we are 2-0 down.  If we were settled in at nil-nil it could've been a bit more of a game for the fans in the second half.  But credit to them, they moved the ball well, they have purpose in how they play, they have great players individually.  We hung with them for every bit of 34 minutes, we should be proud of our efforts and everything we've done this season.  For the fourth year in a row, these girls have — the senior group that we lose — have eight trophies to their name and four trips to the national tournament, and we've beat some big dogs along the way so there is always that glimpse of hope that we could do it again tonight but Florida did a great job."

On what the future holds: "I brought a staff in from [NCAA] Division II programs, we've worked so hard to get to where we are at at the Division I level.  We have players who have worked so hard to get here.  Truthfully the goal is to leave the program better than when we got here.  We have four seniors with eight trophies and four trips to the national tournament and a coaching staff that is trying to see if they can take a program somewhere it's never been — for the University of South Alabama, that's the Sweet 16.  Is that realistic for us?  Yes, we think so if we work hard.  It's great to look at Florida as a benchmark for what we need to bring in.  We leave here disappointed and upset — as rightfully we should be — but motivated to bring in a team that can match these top SEC schools.  If you look back through the schedule we are not scared to play the top teams, we do it because we hope we can beat them one day.  We're going to leave here and work hard, roll our sleeves up and in the future with the likes of Hannah Godfrey and Kory Dixon and the rest of the crew the future is very bright for the University of South Alabama; we're excited."

Junior Defender Hannah Godfrey
On adjustments made at halftime to create more offensive opportunities in the second half: "In the first half we tried to keep our shape but we knew in the second half they were coming at us and we gave them a little too much time up top, we knew if we pressed them high anything could happen.  That showed when Audrey [Duren] managed to get in and score the goal"

On what Florida did to keep South Alabama on its heels: "They were just coming at us.  We kept our shape and our discipline but unfortunately we switched off a couple of times and you can't afford to do that against big teams.  We knew it would be a tough game and they just kept coming at us.  We stayed disciplined and did well but like I said a few little mistakes caused problems."

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/USAJaguarSports. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).

Join the Upper 90 Club, the soccer specific support club of the Jaguar Athletic Fund.  All gifts to the Upper 90 Club go directly to support the South Alabama soccer program.  For more information on how you can join visit: http://jaguarathleticfund.com/upper90

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