Becky Burleigh envisioned her team starting conference play strong, she just didn’t expect Florida to be plagued by the same problems it has had since the beginning of the season.
Burleigh’s No. 7 Gators (8-1-1, 2-0 Southeastern Conference) opened SEC competition this weekend with two decisive road wins, including a 2-0 bullying of Vanderbilt (4-5-1, 0-1-1 SEC) Sunday afternoon. But much of the postgame talk wasn’t about the win. Rather, the Gators discussed chances squandered.
“We are doing everything but finishing,” Burleigh said. “We held the ball well, looked sharp — everything but finishing. At the end of the day, we are 2-0 on the road with two shutouts, so it’s hard to really complain about that. But we’re just really pushing this team to be better and better.”
Florida dominated possession this weekend but struggled to make the final touch or finishing pass. On a soggy field in Lexington, Ky., on Friday night, UF beat Kentucky 2-0 but only put seven of 16 shots on goal.
Sunday afternoon in Nashville, Tenn., the Gators did a little better but still put only eight of 18 on frame.
“We sound like a broken record talking about it,” captain McKenzie Barney said. “But we’ve had a lot of opportunities, we just need to finish our chances. Once we get that under our belts, we’re going to be a great and unstoppable team.”
Barney, who failed to convert several solid opportunities earlier in the game, scored the goal that broke the Commodores’ back after Vandy surged late.
In the 79th minute, on a play that Barney said she and defender Ashlee Elliott discussed at halftime, Barney received a great far-post cross from Elliott and found herself wide open 20 yards from goal with Vanderbilt goalie Rachel Bachtel charging. Barney took one touch and chipped the ball over the keeper’s head, securing a UF victory.
Freshman Taylor Travis gave the Gators the lead in the 14th minute by out-hustling Bachtel and cleaning up a loose ball in the box.
Travis challenged the goalie on a ricochet and drilled the deflection into the upper 90 of the right post.
“The ball bounced down in front of the keeper,” Travis said. “We both hit it at the same time and I just popped up a little bit faster than her.”
Back home this week, Burleigh said her team’s No. 1 priority is to work on scoring.
“We really are dominating in every facet of the game aside from finishing,” she said. “We have high standards and that’s the one thing that’s missing right now.”
