Florida Gators

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The Florida soccer team had an interesting 2017 season, one as hard as it was heartbreaking. The Gators, for the second time since 2014, reached the NCAA Tournament's regional final, only to fall one game shy of their first Final Four in 16 seasons, courtesy of a 2-0 loss to Southeastern Conference rival South Carolina. That covers the heartbreaking part. 

As for the hard, UF finished the season with a 17-7 record, a mark that included 15 games against opponents in the NCAA field, with three against teams that reached the Final Four. Heck, the Gators were the only team to defeat Stanford — the eventual national champion — and did that in the third match of the season. 

Making the hard even harder: UF managed just 38 goals over the course of its season, the second-fewest in program history. The Gators played some exemplary defense, allowing just 18 goals on the year, but were shut out in five of those seven losses. And five of the seven were decided by one goal. 

"We play a tough schedule. We don't have many games that are 4-0 or 5-0. Those are rare, but they're also by design," Florida coach Becky Burleigh said this week. "Sometimes, the confidence you get from a game like that really helps, but it's a balance. The season is so short, you just can't afford to have games outside the conference that aren't benefiting us in some way, whether it's a different look, style of play or another quality opponent. I would love to have a few feel-good games, but the ones we choose to play are chosen carefully to prepare us not to get us in the NCAA Tournament, but get us far into the NCAA Tournament."

Now, whether that means the No. 7 Gators are bracing for another low-scoring, grind-it-out type of  season remains to be seen. UF's 2018 slate, which begins Friday at home against Washington at Dizney Stadium, features 11 games against opponents that made the NCAA field a season ago, including a non-conference home showdown with national runner-up UCLA. The roster suggests Florida has the means to navigate another rugged slate. Of the 13 players that logged at least 1,000 minutes last season, 11 are back. Of the 13 players who scored at least one goal, 10 return, including points leader Deanne Rose, now a sophomore. 

"This team knows each other so well and has been together so long," junior midfielder Sammie Betters said. "We're not just teammates, we're all friends. We know each other so well, and I think you're going to be surprised how much we have to offer and, as players, [and] how much we've grown." 

And, perhaps, with how they'll play. 

As in, freer. 

The key to "playing free," a buzz phrase in the game of soccer these days, is in releasing the mind of all the clutter and gobbledegook that tells a player what she's supposed to do, and instead, just doing it. 

"In other words, be you on the field," fourth-year junior midfielder Parker Roberts said. 

That's what Burleigh and her staff will ask of the Gators in '18. The reason they're wearing UF uniforms now is because they were charismatic players in their club and high school careers. It's possible, obviously, to be that same player and still do so within the framework of the Florida system. 

"Playing free means you're not thinking, and you're letting your natural instincts take over, and those instincts are born out of habit and repetition of the things that we do on a daily basis," Burleigh said. "You can see it in freshmen, always. They look like they're playing with a 20-pound backpack. They're trying to process everything, whereas older players aren't doing that. They've already processed it." 
 
There are no explosive Savannah Jordan-type offensive players on the squad, but there are plenty capable of finding the back of a net.

Rose, a member of the bronze medal-winning Canadian team at the 2016 Olympics in London, led the team in scoring with nine goals during her first-team All-SEC freshman season and figures to take her game up a notch. A trio of seniors in Briana Solis, Sarah Troccoli and Laís Araujo, are gifted on the attack, as well, and now a year older likely won't be limited to eight combined goals in a season. Ditto Roberts and senior Melanie Monteagudo, who are talented players capable of better offensive seasons, as well. 

If a freshman is going to splash on the scene, it figures to be midfielder/forward Cassidy Lindley. Despite missing her entire junior season of high school with an injury, Lindley scored 56 goals during her Indiana prep career. She has pedigree, too. Her older brother, Cameron, was an All-American at North Carolina and left the Tar Heels early to turn professional. He now plays for Orlando City of the MLS.

As a freshman, will Lindley play free? And will she do so by taking a cue from her older teammates? 

The veterans think so. 

"The unicorn is kind of our mascot on the field," Roberts said. "They're unique and rare. None are alike. That's what I mean by 'be you' on the field. Be rare, be you, and don't be afraid to be different. There have been times where I've been put in situations that you don't really get to be yourself. It's robotic. People are telling you where to be, how to play, and where to go. Sometimes, you have to take a step back and realize that you're here for a reason. Becky wants us to play how we're supposed to play. We all bring something to this team, and if we all bring our separate piece, it can be something unique."

Added junior defender Julia Lester: "To have fun, is the biggest thing. There's going to be some challenges in games. It happens. That's soccer. But it's kind of, 'How do you overcome that?' and 'How do you have fun when you do overcome that?' I think that's something that our team does really well."

CHARTING THE GATORS 
In its infancy, when the sport was not as deep and the players not as good, the Florida soccer team had a run of three seasons (including their 1998 national-championship campaign) when the Gators averaged more than 97 goals per season. In 2017, UF scored just 38 goals, the second-fewest amassed in program history (behind the 29 in 2002). The number was strikingly low even compared to the previous 10 seasons, when the Gators averaged 54.3 goals annually, and a product of both a tougher schedule and the lack of a superstar offensive player.  

Year	Record	Goals
2007	17-5-3	48
2008	19-4-1	52
2009	16-6-2	47
2010	19-2-3	56
2011	17-8	57
2012	19-5-1	54
2013	18-5-1	52
2014	17-4-2	59
2015	19-4-1	61
2016	17-5-1	57

They certainly did so in last weekend's exhibition match against Florida Atlantic, a 4-0 win, when four different players scored goals. But everything gets harder (and real), starting Friday. And it really gets even harder next weekend when the Gators start a run of — get this — seven straight games against 2017 NCAA Tournament opponents. 

The defense that limited foes to less than a goal a game needs to carry over from last year.

The offense needs to play free and, in turn, play productive. 

"We started to gain more of a defensive identity last year, but we need to balance it," Burleigh said. "We need to be a potent offense to scare people and we need to be a shutdown, lockdown defense to close out close games. When we balance those two, that's when we'll be ready for prime time."