Most people traveling from Florida to Oregon are going to want to stay for more than a couple of days before making the return trip.
For the No. 16 Gators, the long journey will just be a business trip, as they will head to the Northwest to take on No. 5 Portland tonight. Then, they will catch the redeye flight back to Gainesville for their match against No. 25 Kansas on Sunday.
The trip will log over 5,950 miles for UF.
It won't be the first time this season they travel out west for a Friday match and return back for a game on Sunday. On opening weekend, the Gators headed out to Boulder, Colo., for a game against Colorado then to Boca Raton to play Florida Atlantic - they were 1-0-1 on the trip.
Freshman midfielder Tahnai Annis hopes the previous experience will help them be more prepared for the match, but she says the long trip affected her more than she thought it would.
"After being in the airports and on the airplane for so long, it felt like my legs were just drained and a lot of energy was taken from all of us," Annis said.
To try and make sure the team was fully rested, UF took a flight Wednesday morning so it could have all day Thursday to recover from the ride.
UF coach Becky Burleigh even gave her team the weekend off after last Friday's 2-0 victory over No. 23 Illinois to prepare for this weekend's difficult schedule.
"I can't remember ever having a weekend off in the middle of the season," Burleigh said.
If the Gators are to get the win on the road, they'll have to shoot a better percentage than they did against the Illini.
So far this season, Portland has been extremely impressive, tallying five shutouts in seven games, defeating defending-national champions Southern Cal and averaging four goals per game.
"Against a team with as much talent as Portland has, we are going to have to (communicate to each other on the field)," senior Ameera Abdullah said. "There's not going to be room not to talk because that's how we are going to win the game."
While UF will probably need its best game of the season to defeat Portland, it has to quickly turn its attention to Kansas no matter the outcome on Friday.
The Jayhawks are coming off their first loss and will already be in Florida when the Gators get back. Kansas takes on Central Florida on Friday.
A victory against Portland would extend UF's winning streak to four.
