The Gators were plagued in their biggest game of the season by their biggest issue throughout conference play: the early goal.
No. 18 Florida (14-6, 7-4 Southeastern Conference) fell behind early and failed to clinch a share of the SEC title as it fell to No. 22 South Carolina (15-5, 9-2 SEC), 2-1, at Pressly Stadium on Friday night.
“It’s just a broken record,” said Gators head coach Becky Burleigh.
The Gamecocks first struck at the 2:12 mark when senior Kortney Rhoades played the ball through the attacking third. Gators center back Kat Williamson was unable to corral the ball and South Carolina’s leading scorer Kayla Grimsley controlled it and put it past the left of a diving Taylor Burke from nine yards out.
“I was trying to shield it and Kayla was able to get around me, and she shot it and she scored,” Williamson said. “That’s why she got SEC Offensive Player of the Year. She’s a quality player.”
It was the third time in conference play that Florida had given up a goal in the first five minutes of the game and the seventh SEC game in which it failed to score first.
“We just need to start better all-around,” Williamson said.
In the 22nd minute, the Gamecocks’ lead was extended to two when defender Christa Neary crossed the ball through the middle of the Gators’ box and midfielder Danielle Au perfectly placed a header in the top left corner of the net from 12 yards out, just over the outstretched arms of a leaping Burke.
“Until we figure out how to stop giving up soft goals, we will continue to chase games,” Burleigh said of the second goal.
The Gators were able to cut the deficit in half in the 35th minute as freshman center back Annie Bobbitt made a run deep into the right side of the Gamecock’s defensive third. She made one defender miss and crossed the ball over from the right side as she got to the end line. The service was on target, as senior forward Tahnai Annis was able to head it to the right of South Carolina keeper Sabrina D’Angelo from 7 yards out for her fifth goal of the season.
Florida was able to maintain control of the ball following the goal, outshooting South Carolina the rest of the game, but was unable to convert.
“It’s too little too late sometimes,” Burleigh said. “We start out tentatively. We gave up the early goal, then we started getting all over them.”
The win gave the Gamecocks their first ever regular season SEC title. They will hold the No. 1 seed in next week’s SEC Tournament in Orange Beach, Ala.
The Gators will hold the fourth seed after being the top team heading into the tournament for the last five seasons.
Burleigh stressed that Florida’s struggles with early and cheap goals cannot continue into the postseason.
“Ultimately, we hold our destiny in our hands,” Burleigh said. “We’ve given up a lot of bad goals and when you give up bad goals in our sport you are going to lose some games.”
