Two days after suffering its second loss of the season to No. 4 Stanford, Florida looked to rebound Sunday and put on a strong performance as it visited New Mexico.
A strong performance may be putting it lightly.
The No. 6 Gators (5-2) showed up in Albuquerque to battle the Lobos (1-3) in their fifth of six straight away games as they wrapped up non-conference play. From the first whistle, Florida dominated all aspects of the game to take a 4-0 victory.
Junior Lauren Smith struck first for Florida, scoring her first goal of the season in the 14th minute of play off of an assist from sophomore Savannah Jordan.
Jordan didn’t stop there. The Fayetteville, Ga. native would go on to score her fourth and fifth goals of the season, leading to her first double-goal match of the year and the eighth multi-goal match of her young college career.
Sophomore Brooke Sharp added another goal, her second of the season, to round out the scoring.
“I think there were some really nice goals today,” coach Becky Burleigh said. “We saw some combinations that we haven’t seen before. We played a little bit different system than we normally play today, and I think it’s just showing our versatility as a team.”
Another positive in Sunday’s victory was the first appearance on the season for senior Karina Gutsche.
Gutsche missed Florida’s first six games due to a sprained MCL in a preseason practice. She started every match for the Gators at center defensive back in 2013 and is a strong component of Florida’s midfield and defensive game.
She returned to the lineup Sunday and hopes to strengthen an already-formidable Florida squad.
“I think it was great for her to get back on the field, it’s been a while,” Burleigh said of Gutsche. “She was the same old Karina, which was really good to see.”
With Sunday’s win, the Gators again proved they are capable of putting tough losses behind them and bouncing back in big ways. When Florida lost its first game of the year to Oklahoma on Aug. 29, it came out two days later and beat Oklahoma State 4-0.
Then after losing a tough game to Stanford on Friday night in overtime, the Gators took care of New Mexico on Sunday, coincidentally also by a score of 4-0. The team showed its unprecedented bounce back ability.
“I think we learned a lot from the Stanford game,” Burleigh said. “I think we saw some stuff today that we can build on, and now we are just looking forward to starting league play.”
Follow Alex Maminakis on Twitter @alexmaminakis
Junior midfielder Lauren Smith dribbles the ball during Florida's 3-0 win against Miami on Friday at James G. Pressly Stadium.
