After waiting almost two hours due to a weather delay, the Arkansas Razorbacks were able to defend their home field advantage by beating the Florida Gators 2-1 for the first time in the program’s history.

            The bad condition of the pitch was evident in the first half. The Gators could not pass the ball properly through their possession style of play. The high pressure by the Razorbacks’ forwards were the key to stop the Gators’ build-ups. The quick and staggering ball recovery by Claire Kelly, Alexandra Fisher, Carly Hoke and Erika Miller against the Gators’ backline gave the momentum to the hosting team to get a 2-0 early lead in the first half. In less than three minutes, Jessi Hatzler scored the two goals for the Razorbacks. The first one was an amazing long shot just outside the box. And the second one came from a corner, in which she connected a great header.

            In the second half, the Gators started to find their pace thanks to the great work of their midfielders. Meggie Dougherty-Howard — who scored the only goal for the Gators after she found a rebound inside the box that came from a corner — gave depth and logic to every offensive transition while being the first-pass option for the backline. Sarah Troccoli and Gabby Seiler anticipated ball recovery well and built up passing lanes for the forwards. Even though they created a great amount of through passes for Melanie Monteagudo and Savannah Jordan in the second half, the forwards were not able break the solid Razorbacks’ backline — a five-player configuration in the last 45 minutes.

            This was the second time this season that the Razorbacks beat a top-5 ranked team. An aggressive positional style of play based on covering the passing lanes and attacking through quick offensive transitions worked well for Razorbacks to beat a Gator team that struggled to create good scoring opportunities for the second match in a row.

            After a five-match road trip, the Gators will be back in Gainesville to face UCF on Sunday, at 7 p.m. ET. The Razorbacks will be playing against Lipscomb at home on Sunday, at 1 p.m. CT.

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