Through their first six games, the Gators had not received nor surrendered a penalty kick.
Before halftime of their match with Kentucky, they had done both.
“On ours, I was hoping we’d score, and on theirs, I was hoping they wouldn’t,” coach Becky Burleigh said plainly.
No. 22 Florida (3-3-1, 0-1 Southeastern Conference) scored on one penalty kick in the 12th minute, and gave up a goal on a penalty kick in the 29th minute in their 2-1 loss to Kentucky (6-1, 1-0 SEC) on Friday.
The Gators stressed the importance of getting ahead early this week, but despite scoring first, were unable to convert again.
Redshirt senior McKenzie Barney scored the first goal on a penalty kick after senior Erika Tymrak was fouled in the box.
“[I was] pretending like I was just shooting on a goal that didn’t have a keeper, and I wasn’t even in the game,” Barney said.
Florida had trouble getting anything going on offense again following Barney’s goal.
Kentucky got its own chance for a penalty kick in the 29th minute. Midfielder Holly King was called for a questionable foul.
“I wasn’t in a very good spot to view that, but I know that it was towards the top of the box.” Barney said. “I was pretty surprised that it got called a penalty kick.”
The Wildcats added a second goal a minute into the second half, and the Gators spent the rest of the game failing to get good looks on offense.
“Once they were up, they brought more people behind the ball,” Barney said. “It made it a little more difficult for us to play.”
Florida visits Auburn on Sunday at 3 p.m. Burleigh and Barney said they need more discipline when they take on their next SEC opponent.
“We always say that our biggest enemy sometimes can be ourselves,” Barney said. “We weren’t disciplined in the way that we were moving…and because they were sitting in, we weren’t getting as many chances as we should have.’
