During the span of just three games, the Gators women’s soccer team has looked like two wildly different units.
The Gators began the season No. 21 before falling 4-1 to unranked Miami.
“When we went down against Miami, it took us by surprise,” coach Becky Burleigh said. “We were not ready to be in that position.”
After a week of practice, Florida traveled to Chapel Hill, N.C., to play No. 14 North Carolina and No. 2 Duke. The Gators appeared to be in danger of starting 0-3 for the first time in the program’s 18-year history.
But a different Florida team took the field against North Carolina.
The Gators came out much improved on defense and, despite a few close calls, held the Tar Heels scoreless for 110 minutes to secure a draw.
Florida quickly fell behind 2-0 against Duke on Sunday, but the Gators held their own with newfound confidence and scored before the half.
“I felt like during the Duke game we knew that we could play with them,” Burleigh said. “At halftime, I don’t think there was a single player in the locker room who didn’t think we were going to win that game.”
Florida made an improbable comeback and beat Duke 3-2 in overtime on a goal by senior forward Erika Tymrak.
“It was all a learning experience,” Tymrak said. “We took things from [the Miami game] and we had to work on them. Same for UNC, we talked about it after the game, what we had to work on.”
Tymrak played a key role in the Gators’ improved offense last weekend. She scored the game-winning goal against Duke and created another when she directed a cross into the box that deflected off a defender and bounced into the net for an own goal. On Monday, Tymrak was named Southeastern Conference Offensive Player of the Week.
Florida was more efficient on offense against Duke than it was against either Miami or North Carolina. Though the Gators had only four shots on goal, they converted two of them into scores.
“Against Miami, we had no width in our attack,” Burleigh said. “We were trying to play four players where you could probably throw a blanket and cover all of them. Not good for offense; on offense you want to be spread out.
“Against UNC, we did a terrific job of getting wide, but we didn’t do a very good job of finding those players wide. And finally against Duke, we sort of put it all together. We kept our width and actually used those players out wide.”
After allowing three goals off of set pieces against Miami, UF’s defense improved drastically and prevented UNC and Duke from scoring on any set pieces.
“It’s a tough thing to work on in practice because you’re just basically encouraging people to beat each other up,” Burleigh said. “The players embraced that challenge, and when we played against those two teams this weekend, it was a much, much more physical presence out there.”
Although Florida has played to both extremes in their first three games, Burleigh knows which team she expects to show up for the rest of the year.
“I knew which team was our team even before that Miami game and after that Miami game,” Burleigh said. “If we had to use that Miami game to progress to where we are now, then maybe it’s a blessing in disguise.”
Florida v Duke. Nike Carolina Classic. Florida won 3-2 in OT.
