GAINESVILLE, Fla. – After picking up four points from their previous two matches in Southeastern Conference play, the LSU Tigers saw their unbeaten run in league play come to an end at James G. Pressly Stadium in Gainesville, Florida, on Sunday after suffering a 2-1 defeat at the hands of the 12^th-ranked Florida Gators on the afternoon.

The Tigers (8-4-3, 2-4-1 SEC) were unable to pick up their first points away from home in SEC play this season on a sunny Sunday afternoon as the Gators (10-3-1, 4-2-1) won their fourth-straight in the series.

Senior midfielder Lexi Gibbs netted a late consolation in the 89^th minute with her first goal on the season as she redirected Fernanda Pina’s attempt on target into the back of the net to pull the score back to 2-1 with 99 seconds to play in regulation. Senior midfielder Natalia Gomez-Junco rifled a strike from distance off the crossbar before the ball fell to Pina in space in the penalty area.

The Tigers went on the front foot from the opening kickoff as they pressed the Gators defensively and turned their effort into the attack while nearly taking the lead inside the opening 10 minutes of the match.

With Gomez-Junco stepping up to the right corner flag for LSU’s first set-piece opportunity on the afternoon, she fired her curling service across the box to freshman Gabriela Maldonado in space on the back post, and the visitors nearly took an early lead as Maldonado’s effort sailed just over the crossbar from point-blank range.

The Tigers continued to stifle the Gators going forward in the early going as they held the home side without a single shot attempt in the opening 23 minutes of the match. But Florida’s first attack turned the tide when junior midfielder Betsy Middleton buried the breakthrough in the 24^th minute from a long-range rebound after junior striker Savannah Jordan’s initial shot pinged off the crossbar.

Maldonado again found herself in position from a Gomez-Junco corner kick with a chance to equalize late in the first half as she picked the cross out of the air and volleyed on target from six yards in a similar position at the back post as her first opportunity early in the contest. Florida’s freshman goalkeeper Kaylan Marckese might not have even seen Maldonado’s blistering volley, but positioned herself well enough to deny the Tiger freshman her third goal of the season for an equalizer in the 40^th minute of play.

LSU’s advantage in the run of play in the opening half was also seen on the stat sheet as the Tigers led 6-4 in shot attempts, 3-2 in shots on goal and 3-2 in corner kicks as the teams went into the break.

The pace was end-to-end following the second-half kickoff as LSU’s senior goalkeeper Catalina Rubiano denied Gator midfielder Pamela Begic from eight yards on a breakaway in the 48^th minute before Maldonado ran into space at the top of the box and ripped her third shot of the match off the crossbar while nearly equalizing again.

The Gators then doubled their lead on the ensuing attack as Jordan was played through the LSU defense by senior defender Claire Falknor and finished inside the right post from six yards to make it 2-0 to the Gators in the 50^th minute of play. The SEC’s leading goal scorer added to her tally with her 14^th goal in 14 matches on the season that also ranks No. 2 nationally in 2015.

It was Pina who appeared to pull a goal back for the Tigers just minutes later when she headed Debbie Hahn’s end-line cross from the right flank back across goal and potentially across the line in the 56^th minute, but it was judged by the linesman to have been cleared by a Florida defender before breaking through as the Gators survived the LSU threat.

Rubiano turned in one of the performances of the match for the Tigers as she was strong in goal while standing up to the Florida threat throughout, finishing with a career-high 11 saves on 21 shots faced in the contest. That easily eclipsed her previous single-game high of seven saves in a match at Alabama on Sept. 11 of this season and at home against Kentucky on Oct. 24 during the 2014 campaign.

The Tigers finished with five shots on target on their 11 attempts in the match as Gibbs pulled it back to 2-1 at the 88:21 mark with her first goal of the season before referee Ted Unkel blew his whistle for full time.

The Tigers will be back on the road during the week with a trip to Fayetteville, Arkansas, as they will face the Arkansas Razorbacks with kickoff set for 6 p.m. CT on the SEC Network. They then return home for their last home weekend of the season with matches against the Mississippi State Bulldogs on Friday, Oct. 23, at 7 p.m. CT and South Carolina Gamecocks on Sunday, Oct. 25, at 1 p.m. CT.

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