Gators show a little too late against Aggies
Friday, September 11, 2015 | Soccer, Cross Country, Chris Harry
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- The first goal of Florida's 2-1 loss in Thursday night's Southeastern Conference opener unfolded like so.
In the seventh minute, Texas A&M defender Ashlynn Harryman powered a high, arcing free kick 15 yards inside the Aggies' side of the field at Dizney Stadium. The ball sailed over the heads of UF defenders Christen Westphal and Lauren Smith, took a high bounce at the top of the goalie's box and became a one-on-one match between A&M forward Aggie Bates and Florida keeper Valerie Tysinger.
Bates won, jumping and nodding the ball goalward just as Tysinger arrived, with Westphal helplessly chasing and flailing as the ball rolled into the back of the net.
The sixth-ranked Aggies had jumped on top.
“That didn't help,” Gators coach Becky Burleigh said. “But I wasn't that concerned. I was confident if we passed the ball and moved it we could get past that.”
Unfortunately for Florida, far too many of their passes in this early showdown of SEC powers found the feet of Texas A&M players. For the better part of 90 minutes, eighth-ranked UF couldn't hit the open player or wasn't moving well enough or getting in position quickly enough to find its rhythm.
It wasn't until the 76th minute, down 2-0, that junior forward Savannah Jordan scored off an assist from freshman midfielder Mayra Pelayo that injected some late-game life into the Gators. They had a couple more opportunities to tie the game in the final 10 minutes off set piece plays, but credit A&M's defense for being up to task on the road.
“In the second half, we said if our execution doesn't get better, our hard work would,” said Westphal, whose team trailed 1-0 at intermission, then fell two goals back nearly 25 minutes into the second half. “We definitely improved. You can come back and compete with hard work.”
The Gators never stopped playing and ultimately they played better.
Burleigh said she saw some samplings of these same traits last weekend against Oklahoma State, but her team managed to pull out a 3-2 overtime win. Against an opponent like Texas A&M (6-1-1, 1-0), which won the SEC Tournament last season and reached the Final Four, portions of playing really won't cut it.
And they know that. Even the multitude of freshmen understand.
The buzz word for the next few days -- the Gators (4-2, 0-1) face Jacksonville in a non-league game at home Sunday -- and on into next week figures to be “execution.” It needs to be better. And from the get-go.
“We rely so heavy on it that when our execution fails us it's hard to refocus and reset ourselves,” junior midfielder Meggie Dougherty Howard said. “So when it's not going well, the key for us is to hard work and show [on offense] for each other early and often, always being an option [for a pass]. We need multiple options that are early and often.”
Check back in a week. That's when UF dips back into SEC play with a home date against Ole Miss.
“Every game we play, every result we get, positive or negative, is just another opportunity to show what we're made of,” Burleigh said. “This will be a chance to show some resiliency. How we bounce back will be really important for this group.”
