Gators Volleyball, Soccer Tallahassee-bound
Thursday, September 4, 2014 | Soccer
by Chris Harry - GatorZone.com Senior Writer
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- During a Gators football fall, momentum builds during the conference season and eventually gives way to a hot-blooded finale against that team from our state capital.
In every other sport, though, Florida gets its regularly scheduled date against Florida State early. Maybe that's why the rivalry on the other fields and courts airs more on the side of respectful versus vitriolic.
Take volleyball and soccer, for example.
Both of those Gators teams will be in Tallahassee the next two days for big-time pre-Southeastern Conference showdowns, each of which will provide nice September barometers for their respective coaches.
The 11th-ranked UF volleyball team (3-0) visits No. 8 FSU (2-0) Thursday night at Tully Gym, which figures to packed and in full-blown pandemonium mode. Last weekend, the Seminoles went to Nebraska and handed the powerhouse Cornhuskers their first non-conference loss at the venerable Devaney Center since 2009.
It's that game last week that was on the minds of Coach Mary Wise and her team as they prepared for FSU, and not what happened last Dec. 6 when the Seminoles came to the O'Connell Center -- a pretty tough place to play, also -- and defeated the Gators in a gut-wrenching, five-setter in second-round NCAA Tournament play.
[Worth noting: After the FSU match, the Gators get to breathe for, oh, about 30 seconds before getting ready for a visit from No. 3-ranked Texas, but for now it's Florida State that has their undivided attention]
“The two teams are way different this year,” Wise said of a UF club that lost All-American Chloe Mann and an FSU team restocked by four impact transfers. “This group hasn't talked about revenge or anything like that. Florida State has a huge respect factor from us. We know they're a hard-nosed, competitive group that is never phased by circumstances, evidenced by what they did in going to Nebraska.”
The Seminoles play a fast-paced game -- with low, line-drive setting tactics -- that is a challenge to defend. UF swept FSU in three games when the two met last Sept. 17, but all three were close.
Then came the rematch in December, with much higher stakes.
“They're a big, physical team and our main focus going in is knowing them so well, knowing what they're going to do on their side and combating that on our side. That's no different in how we prepare for anyone, regardless of ranking or rivalry,” senior libero Taylor Unroe said. “The emotional part for us [in last year's NCAA loss] was remembering how that felt to lose in such a big situation. But this is not a revenge thing. We're two different teams now playing in a whole different season.”
Obviously, Becky Burleigh is no stranger to the FSU soccer team, either.
The No. 8 Gators (2-1) and No. 2 Seminoles (4-0), both starting out their milestone 20th seasons, have met 21 times since that inaugural 1995 season, with UF holding a 11-10 edge in the series. FSU, though, has won the last two meetings, including last year's decisive 3-0 defeat when Seminoles stars Dagny Bryjarsdottir scored twice and then Michaela Hahn scored in the final minute of the first half to seize mega-momentum.
FSU went on to reach the NCAA title game, losing to UCLA 1-0 in overtime.
Like Wise, Burleigh holds the Florida state program in high regard and even enjoys something of a partnership with the Seminoles. The last two years, the two have worked together, along with Oklahoma and Oklahoma State, to form a round-robin sort of series between the four schools; last year in Gainesville, this year (just last weekend, in fact) in the Sooner State.
Eventually, they get around to facing one another.
“It's always a big game,” Burleigh said. “The [state of] Florida kids all know each other and have played against each other for years. They all kind of now what to expect.”
They also know what they want; besides a victory, of course.
“There's always going to be a rivalry, but that's awesome for both teams,” senior midfielder Annie Speese said. “They're not the enemy, they're the competition. At the end of the day, we want their best game. That would be best for us. And I think if you asked Florida State, they'd say the same thing.”
Burleigh made that very point to her players in readying them for one of its biggest challenges of the season.
Someone was listening.
"I was," Speese smiled. "But I take it to heart. We all do."
