Florida Gators

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- The voids left by a couple vacancies in the Florida soccer lineup are staggering. 

Let's start, say, with forward Savannah Jordan. 

Probably one of the five greatest players in program history, Jordan played in 94 games the last four seasons and scored 81 goals, good for second behind Gator Great Abby Wambach on UF's all-time list. Throw in 27 assists and that makes 189 career points. She was twice tabbed as the Southeastern Conference's Offensive Player of the Year and leaves as the only Gator to achieve NSCAA All-America status four straight seasons. 

And then there's Meggie Dougherty Howard. She, too, logged 94 games as a Gator and over the last four seasons was a rock in the defensive midfield during a career that, fittingly, saw her win MVP honors in her final SEC Tournament. In her first post-UF summer, Dougherty Howard tore it up as a midfielder for the Washington Spirit as one of the top rookies the National Women's Soccer League. 

In Jordan and Dougherty Howard alone, UF coach Becky Burleigh got more 15,000 minutes of superstardom since the 2013 season. 

The Gators also said goodbye to the likes of Pamela Begic, Liz Slattery, Betsy Middleton and Brooke Sharp, all told one of the finest senior classes to roll through the hallways at Lemerand Center since the program's inception in 1995. The 2016 squad went 17-5-1, won the 12th SEC Tournament in program history and fell in quarterfinal play of the NCAA Tournament. 

Now comes the chore of replacing the seeming irreplaceable. 

Well, sort of. 

"I never really think of someone replacing someone else," Burleigh said of the task she's faced annually as she enters her 23rd season as the only soccer coach in UF history. "I think about fitting pieces together from this team vs. last year's team. How do some of those parts fit? The lifespan of a team is very short, just August to December. Then it's a new team." 

The newest version officially debuts Friday night when the No. 7 Gators open the 2017 season at Florida Atlantic. UF had a test drive last week in a 3-2 exhibition victory over Mississippi State and a got a nice glimpse of things to come. Now things are for real. 

While natural attrition is the nature of the beast as far as college athletics, this particular new team is minus a pair of stalwarts that contributed mightily the previous four Augusts to Decembers. In the case of Jordan and her physical gifts when it came to scoring the ball, she commanded (and demanded) the attention of opposing defenses game in, game out. 

Now comes the intrigue of which player — or more likely, players — assumes that role. 

There are multiple candidates. 

"Even though Savannah was such a big part of what we do, I think this will be good for us," said junior forward Melanie Monteagudo, one of the Gators being counted on to collectively fill Jordan's offensive void. "We'll have other people to go to, other options, instead of Savannah needing to do everything. We could have people coming from midfield [to attack]. Teams are not going to know what to look for because she's not here for us. Maybe it'll be kind of difficult in the beginning to get comfortable with it, but as the season progresses we'll come together." 

Monteagudo was a hotshot recruit — she scored 132 goals during her prep career, including a Broward County-record 63 as a junior— when she signed out of Penbroke Pines (Fla.) American Heritage. 

She is cut from a different mold then Jordan, who was a compact version of speed, power and strength, and especially deft at operating with her back to the goal. Monteagudo is taller and more likely to face up a defender and make her look bad with a slick move that will put her on the attack. Of the returning players, Monteagudo's eight goals last season were more than twice that of any current teammate and her 20 points ranked behind only Jordan and Dougherty Howard. 

"I don't try to set expectations for a player, rather let them naturally evolve as we get into it, but she's someone who spent the whole summer here, worked really hard and has developed some leadership skills, too," Burleigh said of Monteagudo. "I think she's underrated as an athlete and has some sophistication to her game, whether it's technically or with her decision-making and vision." 

 
Junior midfielder Mayra Pelayo started 19 games at attacking midfield and finished fourth on the team in goals (4) and points (17), while checking in second with nine assists. As her role increases, her productivity figures to as well. 

The Gators have a couple marquee newcomers with instant-impact potential. A couple have even earned international acclaim. 

Freshman forward Deanne Rose played her first match for Canada's senior team at age 15. She made that nation's 2016 Olympic squad and scored the first goal and assisted on the game-winner against the home team in the bronze-medal match in Brazil.  

Parker Roberts is a redshirt sophomore midfielder who transferred to UF by way of Kansas, where she was named to the Big 12 All-Freshman team in 2015 after twice being honored as the state's Gatorade Player of the Year in high school. During her 2016 sit-out season, Roberts played with the U.S. Under-20 National Team for the FIFA World Cup and competed in two matches. 

That's to name just a few. 

Opportunities abound for many.

"I don't necessarily see any one person taking over in terms of production and leadership. That's not how recruiting works," Burleigh said. "You look at the totality of a team and find people who exist on the team who can fulfill those roles. They may do it very differently, but very successfully. It's a big mosaic." 

Let the pieces take shape.