The Gators have 10 freshmen, but you wouldn’t know it from asking the players.
“I don’t really see a difference in classes,” junior defender Maggie Rodgers said. “It’s not just like seniors hang out with seniors, freshmen hang out with freshmen.”
Florida’s freshmen saw substantial playing time last weekend in their first set of Southeastern Conference games.
Claire Falknor picked up her first start in three weeks against Auburn on Sunday.
She was the lone bright spot in UF’s opening match against Miami on Aug. 17, scoring Florida’s only goal in a 4-1 loss.
But since scoring against the Hurricanes, Falknor has not recorded any points and has only started in two of seven games.
During her first year with the Gators, Falknor has found a valuable role model in senior Erika Tymrak.
“She’s such a great player,” Falknor said. “She really helps me with transitioning to the team and feeling comfortable. I don’t know. I just look up to her and take notes.”
Falknor said she’s learned a lot from Tymrak, including how to better position herself and receive the ball. She also praised Tymrak’s ability to create plays and make defenders miss.
“She takes people on,” Falknor said. “She just weaves through people like they’re nothing.”
Tymrak compared herself to Falknor and said the two have developed chemistry while playing and practicing together.
“Claire has the same type of mindset that I have,” Tymrak said. “She’s a very quick player and likes taking people on.”
“When I’m dribbling at the back line, she’ll make these runs where she’ll check out and then check back in, and it’s basically my favorite ball to play. … I can tell as soon as she peels out. She’s going to make that run. It’s good that we have that instant connection.”
Defenders Brooke Smith and Christen Westphal also played significant minutes last weekend.
Smith received substantial action for the first time in her college career against Kentucky on Friday, totaling 60 minutes of playing time on the weekend.
“Finally being out there and just in the moment, I just took it all in, did what I could, and I’m looking forward to working harder and hopefully getting more minutes,” Smith said.
Westphal has seen the most playing time of the freshman class. She played every minute of both matches this past weekend and has started in seven of the Gators’ eight games.
“Both of them are great players,” senior midfielder Holly King said. “For freshmen, again, to step in is a huge factor, and it’s a hard thing to do. I think they’ve done really well.”
When the team isn’t on the field, the freshmen and upperclassmen still spend a lot of time together, whether they’re talking between classes, eating dinner together or having a scary movie night.
“We’re pretty much always together,” King said. “We don’t really go our separate ways.”
Coach Becky Burleigh said the relationship between the freshmen and upperclassmen is terrific.
“What I like the most about them is they’ve been very little drama,” Burleigh said. “I think it’s been a very easy transition.”
Freshman midfielder Christen Westphal pushes the ball against the defense of Florida International University in a 3-0 victory on Sept. 2, 2012.
