FanNation

My SEC Football Picks For This Week

Alabama 27 Miss. St 13

Tennessee 31 Arkansas 27

Kentucky 33 Vanderbilt 23

Auburn 23 Georgia 16

LSU 38 Louisiana Tech 13

Florida 33 South Carolina 17

SEC Records

Here is another SEC football Record. Again, I plan on posting a couple of these each week.

Rushing Yards Gained
1. 5,259-Herschel Walker, Georgia (33 games) 1980-82
2. 4,557-Kevin Faulk, LSU (41 games) 1995-98
3. 4,303-Bo Jackson, Auburn (38 games) 1982-85
4. 4,163-Errict Rhett, Florida (48 games) 1990-93
5. 4,073-Darren McFadden, Arkansas (34 games) 2005-
6. 4,050-Dalton Hilliard, LSU (44 games) 1982-85
7. 4,035-Charles Alexander, LSU (44 games) 1975-78

First Day Of SEC Soccer Tournament

Day one is over and there was one big upset and one great game. Here are the scores of the games. I also will included part of the write up of each game that was on the SEC website.

Georgia 2 Ole Miss 0

South Carolina 2 Tennessee 0

Florida 4 Kentucky 0

LSU 2 Auburn 2 (LSU advance on penalty kicks 4-2)

From The SEC Website:

Match 1 - [2] Georgia 2, [7] Ole Miss 0

ORANGE BEACH, Ala. -- The No. 13-ranked University of Georgia women's soccer team (16-2-2) defeated Ole Miss (7-8-5) in the opening round of the 2007 SEC Soccer Tournament by a 2-0 score Wednesday in Orange Beach, Ala. The win marks the Bulldogs' first SEC Tournament victory since 2003 and sets and new program record for total wins in a season with 16. the game-winner came off the head of junior defender Megan Tomlinson (Atlanta, Ga.) in the 43rd minute of play.

"We beat a very good Ole Miss team today and I was pleased with the result," said head coach Patrick Baker. "Our defense was strong, the midfield was busy and our forwards did a good job when they needed too. We didn't play our best soccer today, but a dear friend told me when you are in tournament play, it's all about advancing. Once we went up 2-0, we started to rotate fresh legs in and were able to get some players some valuable rest for Friday. Both center backs scoring for us was a big plus."

Tomlinson lived up to her billing as a First-Team All-SEC selection as she scored her third goal of the year and became the 10th different Bulldog to score the game-winning goal in UGA's 16 victories. The goal was Tomlinson's second head-ball goal of the season and the fourth time in her career she has scored on a header off of a corner kick. The corner was taken by freshman midfielder Traci Dreesen (Lakewood, Colo.), marking her second assist on the season.

"Traci played a great ball in and I happened to be in the right place at the right time," said Tomlinson. "The service from Traci was very good. Overall I don't think we played our best today but we came out and battled hard, and we looked better in the second half. We knew we had to win this game and we probably had to put two or three goals on the board. We knew Ole Miss would play very direct. I think our preparation going into this game really helped us and we came out and executed what we needed to."

Just over 10 minutes in to the second half, Georgia struck again as redshirt freshman defender Danielle Abelson (Stone Mountain, Ga.) took a free kick from just over midfield. Abelson's strike came from approximately 50 yards out, but with the wind at her back, she launched it toward the net. Freshman midfielder Caroline Simpson made a run into the box and screened Ole Miss goalkeeper Ann Shelton, allowing the ball to bounce untouched into the back of the net. Abelson's goal is her second of the year, as her first also came on a long-range strike and was the game-winner in the Dogs' 1-0 victory at Arkansas earlier this year. Abelson was named to the 2007 All-SEC Freshman Team Tuesday.

"Before the game Coach Baker told me that if we had the wind at our back and we get a set piece, to put it on goal and test the goalkeeper," said Abelson. "And it worked to perfection. In the first half the wind was a huge factor, we were going against it and their long balls were getting carried in behind us. In the second half we had the wind on our side so it made it easier to read the ball because it was holding up in the air. It was a lot easier to win the ball and win tackles."

The win marks Georgia's first SEC Tournament victory since 2003, when the Bulldogs defeated Auburn in a two-overtime game, 2-1.

Match 2 - [6] South Carolina 2, [3] Tennessee 0

ORANGE BEACH, Ala. -- The South Carolina women's soccer team defeated third seed Tennessee, 2-0, for the first time in school history to win the first SEC Tournament game in South Carolina history. Darcel Mollon scored the game-winner in the ninth minute and Mary Worthen scored her first goal of the season in the 71st to give Carolina the historic victory. Senior Laura Armstrong recorded the shutout and is now tied for first on the all-time goaltending list with 15 career shutouts.

South Carolina (14-5-2) entered the tournament as the sixth seed and improves to 10-0 when leading at the half. Tennessee falls to 13- 4-2 overall. The Gamecocks improve to 1-11-2 all-time against Tennessee. It is the first time the Lady Vols have lost an opening round SEC Tournament game since 2001.

"Obviously going in that can cross your mind that it hasn't happened before," head coach Shelley Smith said. "(Tennessee is) a seasoned team as far as SEC play goes and postseason play. We had a lot to prove. We knew we had talent to go a long way this year. Going into the beginning of the season against North Carolina, that's the same mentality we faced going into the SEC season that if we compete we'll get results."

The Gamecocks advanced to the semifinals last season after tying Vanderbilt 1-1 in regulation and scoring a 4-3 edge in penalty kicks. That match officially counts as a draw.

Armstrong finished with five saves to record her seventh shutout of the season, tying the school record set by Elise Matthews in 2003. It was the 12th shutout of the season for the Gamecocks.

"Laura had a great game," Smith said. "Both her and Lindsay Thorstenson have been solid for us all year long. To shut out a team like Tennessee with their strength in the attack and having the offensive player of the year in Kylee Rossi, it shows our defense in front of Laura was solid. It was a team defensive effort and Laura came up big when we weren't able to stop the shot."

The Gamecocks attacked early with Erin Sullivan getting the game's first shot in the fifth minute, an open look from the 18' that was saved by first team All-SEC goalkeeper Jaimel Johnson. Three minutes later the Gamecocks went on the board following a long ball played by South Carolina goalkeeper Laura Armstrong. The ball landed to Bigbie in the attacking third, and she played it to Mollon on the right side of the field for the early score.

Carolina didn't let up afterwards as Ashley Kirk followed with a striking shot a minute later that was again saved by Johnson. Sullivan recorded her second shot of the game in the 11th minute before the two teams coasted into halftime with Carolina on top 1-0. The Gamecocks held an 8-5 shot advantage at the break with five of Carolina's shots hitting the mark.

The Lady Vols threatened to tie the game in the 54th minute with a shot by SEC Offensive Player of the Year Kylee Rossi striking a shot from 20 yards out that was saved by a diving Armstrong. Rossi had another attempt in the 58th minute with an open angle from the right side, but Courtney Cobbs and Blakely Mattern deflected her cross to end the threat.

Shannon Bigbie came close to scoring the insurance goal in 63rd with a strike that hit the crossbar. It wasn't until Worthen scored a header off of a Brittiny Rhoades free kick that Carolina was able to take the 2-0 cushion for the victory. Carolina ended with a 12-11 shot advantage and recorded two corner kicks to Tennessee's four.

"It's a tremendous team effort all around, and with so many seniors in the program I'm happy for them," Smith said. "It gets us one step closer to another goal of winning an SEC championship before they graduate."

South Carolina will face No. 2 seed Georgia in Friday's semifinal match at 5 p.m. The Lady Bulldogs defeated Ole Miss 2-0 in game one. The winner of the South Carolina-Georgia game will advance to the championship game Sunday at 2:30 p.m. That match will be broadcast by Fox Sports Net.

Match 3 - [1] Florida 4, [8] Kentucky 0

ORANGE BEACH, Ala. -- The No. 21 University of Florida soccer team (14-4-2, 9-2 SEC) opened Southeastern Conference Tournament play Wednesday with a 4-0 win over Kentucky (10-7-3, 4-6-1 SEC) at the Orange Beach SportsPlex. The win is the 10th consecutive for the Gators, which is the longest winning stretch since the Gators strung together 11-straight wins in the later portion of the 2001 season. During this current stretch, Florida has turned in nine shutouts.

These two teams met last year on this field for the SEC Tournament final, with the Wildcats taking the 2-1 win for UK's second SEC Tournament title and first since 1995. With Wednesday's win, Florida now owns a 4-1 advantage over UK in SEC Tournament play.

Florida scored within the first eight minutes of the match, which UF Head Coach Becky Burleigh credited as a key in the match.

"I think it was really important because when we played Kentucky in the past, they have been really organized defensively. If you don't score that first goal early, it is really difficult to score on them. I think we were fortunate to score early, which made them come out and play at little bit more and not be able to low pressure as much - that really helped us," Burleigh said. "If we hadn't have gotten that early goal, I think it would have been a long evening."

Florida turned in three goals in the opening half, two from senior Stacy Bishop. UF's scoring began when Florida was awarded two consecutive corner kicks early in the opening half. On the second corner, the ball was popped up and the Gators took a couple of tries at the goal. But it was Bishop, receiving the ball from Karly Findorff located at the left post, who scored on a shot from near the penalty kick spot at 7:45.

Bishop finished UF's first-half scoring when Ashlee Elliott, from the top of the 18-yard box circle, served the ball ahead to Bishop in the box. Bishop's right-footed flick from seven yards was her second goal of the match. It is the second multi-goal match of the season for Bishop and the fourth of her two-year Gator career. Bishop now leads the Gators with nine goals this season.

Bishop credited the play of her teammates for both of her goals Wednesday.

"Karly did a good job keeping the ball alive. It came out to my feet and basically I just had to tap it in," Bishop said about the first goal. "(On the second goal) I made a run across the box and called her and Ashlee played a perfect ball. All I had to do is flick it on."

A heads-up play by senior KeLeigh Hudson gave Florida its second goal. Shana Hudson served up a 30-yard ball from the right touchline to the far post. The Kentucky defenders seemed to stop on the play, perhaps believing the ball was going to harmlessly roll out the endline. But KeLeigh Hudson was able to collect the ball before it rolled out of play. She took a couple of touches and scored on a short shot. The goal pushes her season goals total to eight.

That goal was a bit of a surprise for Burleigh.

"It was a really odd goal. I thought the ball was going out of bounds, but KeLeigh was able to stay on the end of it and she was able to sneak it in near post," Burleigh said. "It was a pretty good effort on her part."

Senior Bianca Gibbs scored Florida's final goal at 89:09. Sophomore Angela Napolitano played a ball which found Gibbs in stride. She beat a pair of Wildcat defenders to hit the five-yard shot for her third goal of the season.

Burleigh thought the two combined well for Florida's final score.

"Bianca had gotten herself in position to score a couple of times, so I think she really deserved that goal at the end. She was working hard and doing some 1v1 skills that got her in front of the goal to score," Burleigh said. "That was a great individual effort, but it also was a great pass from Napo (Napolitano) as well to get her in."

Match 4 - [4] LSU 2, [5] Auburn 2