It's been a long time coming for McKenzie Barney.
More than a year, to be exact.
Barney, a redshirt freshman, tore her right ACL in the preseason of her true freshman year.
On Sunday, Barney showed no lingering effects en route to her first two college goals, as the No. 10 UF soccer team cruised to a 5-1 win over Vanderbilt (6-3-1, 0-2 Southeastern Conference) on Sunday.
After a tightly contested first 30 minutes of play, the Gators (8-3, 2-0 SEC) got on the board on a 4-yard tap-in goal by sophomore Tahnai Annis in the 34th minute.
Holly King had the ball and found an open Nicky Kit on the left side of the field. Kit crossed the ball to Annis, who was in the keeper's box. King served as a decoy, and the ball rolled to Annis, who tapped it in for the score.
Annis wasn't done with the Commodores, she was just getting started.
As the first end drew to a close, Sarah Chapman drove up the right side of the field and passed the ball to Annis from the penalty box. Annis dribbled the ball along the goal line and shot the ball for an easy deflection off Vanderbilt goalkeeper Rachel Bachtel.
The problem for Bachtel was that her deflection left the ball a susceptible 6 yards out, where Barney was and tapped it in for her first goal.
"Really, (Annis) did all the work on the first one," Barney said.
The Gators wasted little time in the second half putting the game further out of reach in the 52nd minute. Kit set up for a corner kick - UF's first in the second half - from the right side, bent the ball toward the goal on the service and Jessica Eicken was there for the 6-yard header.
While the goal put the Gators ahead 3-0, it may have meant more as the team's first corner kick goal this season.
"That's been a long time coming," UF coach Becky Burleigh said.
With the sun beating down, the heat appeared to take its toll on the Commodores, who failed to capitalize on offensive opportunities and seemed outplayed in the second half.
"I thought the beginning of the second half, we put the game out of reach, and that's what we need to do, especially on Sundays, as hot as it is - it's going to be tough to climb back in it if we do that," Burleigh said.
Freshman Erika Tymrak scored her third goal of the season on a 10-yard rip into the far post. Lindsay Thompson crossed the ball from the right side to Tymrak in the middle who made a nice back-kick pass to Annis, who passed it back to Tymrak for the goal.
The Gators' fifth and last goal was a bit of déjà vu. Barney scored in the 83rd minute from 4 yards out off the corner kick by Annis.
"The pressure's relieved when you're up by that much," Barney said. "But still, there was not one time where we let down."
Hindsight being 20/20, Barney's first goal would have done the job as the Commodores managed to score their only goal in the 90th minute off a Megan Forester 10-yard goal off a cross in.
UF goalkeeper Katie Fraine recorded a personal shutout and was pulled in the 77th minute to an ovation.
Fraine said she worked on saving low balls and was relieved to see her work in practice pay off during the game.
"It was just amazing to see all the hard work that we've put in this week and since the season started come together and actually get good goals," Fraine said. "It relaxes me, it makes you just feel like you can play openly."
Fraine was clutch with five saves, including two saves in a span of six seconds in the midst of an action-packed keeper's box.
Vanderbilt's Candace West came from the left side and chipped a shot over Fraine's head that hit the far post and left the ball like a sitting duck in front of the goal. Chelsea Stewart, another Commodore, was quick to react, shooting in the ball - but Fraine was a step quicker as she was there to make the save.
"This is what we want to do to every team in the SEC," Barney said. "We should pound every team in the SEC."
GAME NOTE: Natalia Torosian, who had two goals against Eastern Kentucky last Sunday, left the game in the 49 minute after a collision with Vanderbilt's goalkeeper, Bachtel, in the keeper's box. Burleigh said after the game she thought it was just a bruise.
