The Gators came into Friday night’s match against Alabama on a nine-game winning streak and having never lost to Alabama before.
Both of those streaks ended on Friday with a 1-0 Crimson Tide (8-7-2, 3-6-2 Southeastern Conference) victory against the Gators (12-4-1, 9-2 SEC).
Florida had trouble executing on offense the entire night. Miscommunication and poor passing led to five UF offside penalties.
“It was just a lot of poor execution on our part,” coach Becky Burleigh said. “We’ve just got to be a little bit better as far as keeping our width, making sure that we execute our passing.”
Alabama scored in the 39th minute when forward Katie Bourgeois received a through ball on the right side of the box and drilled it past goalkeeper Taylor Burke for her eighth goal of the season.
After the Crimson Tide scored, it began playing a bunker defense, keeping most players back in the Alabama side of the field to prevent Florida from attacking. It worked.
Although the Gators normally have success against teams playing in a bunker, the offense stagnated and was not able to get good shots on goal.
“I don’t think it was necessarily what they did,” senior midfielder Holly King said. “It was more we just didn’t stick to our game plan…We weren’t passing the ball around like we usually do, and we just weren’t connecting. We weren’t staying patient on offense.”
This game was Florida’s first loss since dropping a 2-1 match to Kentucky on Sept. 14.
UF takes on Vanderbilt in Nashville, Tenn., on Sunday.
“We’re going to have a few bumps in the road, and we’re just going to move on from the game,” King said. “Just because our streak got snapped, it doesn’t mean anything for us as a team.”
Coach Becky Burleigh and the Gators lost their first match since Sept. 14 on Friday in Tuscaloosa, Ala. Alabama defeated Florida 1-0 using primarily a bunker defense.
