The Florida soccer team is 4-1 heading into tonight's SEC opener at Kentucky. (Photo: Scott Chandler/For UAA Communications)
Resilient Gators Brave Wild Start, Open SEC Play at Kentucky
Thursday, September 8, 2016 | Soccer
The UF soccer team endured a tough stretch to start the season.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- An FSU game cancelled by Hurricane Hermine. A game following a 5.6-magnitude earthquake in Stillwater, Okla. A potential shooting threat at Los Angeles International Airport.
It's just a few ways to describe the first weeks of the Florida Gators soccer team's schedule – a set of games in which the Gators have notched four wins in five outings.
"We've had a lot of really difficult travel," Coach Becky Burleigh said.
For a trip that took the Gators from California, back to Gainesville, and then to Oklahoma, Florida hasn't had a home game since Aug. 21. It's enough to take a toll on any team, even without the natural disasters and airport scares.
Still, the Gators don't seem to be too fazed with a trip to Kentucky next on their schedule.
Burleigh pointed toward the team's resiliency when faced with such a wild set of circumstances thus far in the young season, a sentiment echoed by midfielder Meggie Dougherty Howard.
"Our schedule this far has been pretty challenging, which has been really great for us," Dougherty Howard said. "It provides us an opportunity to face adversity early on this season. Going forward in SEC play and for the rest of the season, having faced adversity early in the season with our schedule will be really good. It will benefit us for sure."
She added that when it comes time to play, the team hasn't had any trouble focusing. Fans need look no further than Florida's record for proof of that.
To this point, the Gators have won 5-2 against Iowa State and 3-0 against FAU at home. They split their West Coast games with a 0-1 overtime loss against Stanford and a 4-3 overtime win against UCLA.
Yet, following the cancelled contest against the Seminoles, perhaps their most intriguing game of season so far was their 7-2 win over Oklahoma State on Sunday.
All seven of their goals came in the second half after a scoreless tie at halftime. That's a new record for the UF soccer program. The first half was a decidedly defensive match, described as "slow," by Burleigh. After some encouragement toward being patient and disrupting their formation, Melanie Monteagudo and Savannah Jordan both scored -- followed by a second goal by Monteagudo to put the Gators up 3-0 in just eight minutes.
"I think that was awesome of us to be able to do and just show us that we have the ability to turn on that switch that we want to offensively," Dougherty Howard said. "We have a really talented group of people, and we want to impose our will. I think that was a good game to reassure ourselves what we're capable of doing."
Up next for the Gators is a Thursday contest at Kentucky, a team that has won its last two meetings in Lexington against Florida. In their most recent meeting that took place in Gainesville last season, the teams tied 2-2 in double overtime.
It's just a few ways to describe the first weeks of the Florida Gators soccer team's schedule – a set of games in which the Gators have notched four wins in five outings.
"We've had a lot of really difficult travel," Coach Becky Burleigh said.
For a trip that took the Gators from California, back to Gainesville, and then to Oklahoma, Florida hasn't had a home game since Aug. 21. It's enough to take a toll on any team, even without the natural disasters and airport scares.
Still, the Gators don't seem to be too fazed with a trip to Kentucky next on their schedule.
Burleigh pointed toward the team's resiliency when faced with such a wild set of circumstances thus far in the young season, a sentiment echoed by midfielder Meggie Dougherty Howard.
"Our schedule this far has been pretty challenging, which has been really great for us," Dougherty Howard said. "It provides us an opportunity to face adversity early on this season. Going forward in SEC play and for the rest of the season, having faced adversity early in the season with our schedule will be really good. It will benefit us for sure."
She added that when it comes time to play, the team hasn't had any trouble focusing. Fans need look no further than Florida's record for proof of that.
To this point, the Gators have won 5-2 against Iowa State and 3-0 against FAU at home. They split their West Coast games with a 0-1 overtime loss against Stanford and a 4-3 overtime win against UCLA.
Yet, following the cancelled contest against the Seminoles, perhaps their most intriguing game of season so far was their 7-2 win over Oklahoma State on Sunday.
All seven of their goals came in the second half after a scoreless tie at halftime. That's a new record for the UF soccer program. The first half was a decidedly defensive match, described as "slow," by Burleigh. After some encouragement toward being patient and disrupting their formation, Melanie Monteagudo and Savannah Jordan both scored -- followed by a second goal by Monteagudo to put the Gators up 3-0 in just eight minutes.
"I think that was awesome of us to be able to do and just show us that we have the ability to turn on that switch that we want to offensively," Dougherty Howard said. "We have a really talented group of people, and we want to impose our will. I think that was a good game to reassure ourselves what we're capable of doing."
Up next for the Gators is a Thursday contest at Kentucky, a team that has won its last two meetings in Lexington against Florida. In their most recent meeting that took place in Gainesville last season, the teams tied 2-2 in double overtime.
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