When No. 10 Florida (6-3-0) hosts Kentucky (3-2-3) tonight at 7, there will be blood, sweat and tears.
UF midfielder Lindsay Thompson promised.
The rest of her team reiterated that guarantee, although not in those exact words.
Tonight's match marks the beginning of Southeastern Conference play. Every team is familiar with each other, and that makes the games more heated. After going 11-0 in regular-season SEC matches last year, the Gators are prepared to be the conference's least popular squad.
"(SEC teams) don't only hate us; they hate our school, they hate our coaches, they hate us as individual players," goalkeeper Katie Fraine said. "The crowds are always annoyed by us. They just think of us as rich snobs who get what we want and win all the games and have everything they don't."
Fraine said UF is disliked within the conference because other schools are jealous of Florida's nice athletic facilities and the success of the football and basketball teams in recent years.
"A lot of the girls in the SEC are from Florida, and they didn't get offers like we did or they didn't get to come to one of the top-10 schools in the country, so it's obviously going to fuel the rivalry," she said.
The fact that UF's first SEC game is against Kentucky is fitting, as last year's meeting between the two teams epitomized heated conference play.
The Gators came into the game in Lexington with a top-20 ranking.
The Wildcats were 3-6-2. But that did not matter, as Kentucky took a 2-0 lead in the first half.
When UK forward Giuleana Lopez scored the second goal in the 38th minute, she mockingly Gator chomped down the sidelines.
"I don't even know what I was doing," Lopez said in a phone interview. "Adrenaline was just going. I probably motivated them."
UF came back in the second half, scoring goals in the 66th and 67th minute, and the game went to overtime.
"Everyone definitely took note of (Lopez's celebration) and they used that as a little more push in the second half when we were down 2-0," said sophomore Tahnai Annis, who scored UF's first goal.
The Gators completed the comeback in overtime when the then-freshman Thompson scored from 15 yards out in the 103rd minute. It was Thompson's first game-winning goal.
"I remember seeing the ball go past the goalie's hands and being so excited, and my whole team ran over to me," Thompson said.
What happened after the team gathered around Thompson revved up the hostility. In response to Lopez's earlier celebration, some of the Gators ran down Kentucky's field doing the Gator chomp.
"It's our chomp," Fraine said. "We're allowed to do it whenever we want, and if someone's going to do it in our face… it's a throw-it-back-in-their-face thing."
Lopez said she ignored the celebration, opting to shake hands and leave.
But not everyone felt that way.
While UF celebrated, TV cameras caught Wildcats goalkeeper Sydney Hiance flipping off her opponents.
Blood. Sweat. Tears. And middle fingers.
