After getting back to its winning ways on Sunday, Florida is looking forward to carrying that momentum forward into the later stages of the NCAA Tournament.
The No. 2-seeded Gators’ victory over the Mercer Bears was Florida’s first game since losing to Tennessee in the first round of the Southeastern Conference Tournament on Nov. 5. The Gators were intent on using their time off to improve themselves and re-focus in order to come back strong for the NCAA Tournament. They got off to a good start on Sunday.
Florida scored three goals against Mercer and shut the Bears out 3-0. The Gators’ offense was clicking, but so was the defense, which is what coach Becky Burleigh said was an improvement from their loss against Tennessee. Florida gave up just three shots to Mercer on Sunday.
"I thought we did a better job of team defending, I thought we were a little bit more disciplined in terms of our organization in the back," Burleigh said. "I think Mercer had two relatively good chances…so I felt like we limited them offensively."
With the win on Sunday, the Gators are regaining their confidence, that is, if they ever really lost it.
Sophomore Savannah Jordan put up Jordan-like numbers against Mercer with seven shots and two goals. Senior Taylor Burke earned her 27th career solo shutout, tying her with Katie Fraine for the Gators’ record. And the Florida bench was able to provide steady support throughout the match with one shot and two assists coming from the eight players who substituted in.
It was a classic Florida soccer performance, and the Gators want to keep that level of play rolling into their second round game on Friday, because Friday’s game is the only one the team is focusing on.
In tournaments like these, it’s easy to get excited about the possibility of making a deep run, but Florida isn’t thinking like that. It’s only focusing on one thing: the second game in the NCAA Tournament.
"When you’re playing in these situations where it’s really a one game season, one game at a time, I don’t find it difficult at all to focus on that one game," Burleigh said, "because you know that that’s all that you’re guaranteed."
If the Gators were to win on Friday night against the California Bears, they would play again on Sunday against the winner of the Auburn-Texas Tech matchup, but Florida isn’t thinking like that. It’s taking this tournament just like it took the whole regular season, one game at a time.
"We’ve been kind of having that approach throughout the whole season, we have this mentality that every game is a championship game," Burleigh said. "For us it’s all about being present in the moment for the game that we’re in and the moment that we’re in…it’s really important to be in the moment of the game that you’re in."
Follow Alex Maminakis on Twitter @AlexMaminakis
UF coach Becky Burleigh looks down the field during Florida's season-opening win against Miami on Aug. 24, 2014.
