Coming off an up-and-down week, the No. 12 Florida soccer team (5-2, 0-1 Southeastern Conference) will kick off its busy weekend with a conference match against Mississippi (5-1-2, 0-1 SEC) on Friday night at 7 at James G. Pressly Stadium.
Both teams are desperate for a win, as they are coming off losses in their first conference matchups of the season.
The Gators lost to then-No. 6 Texas A&M on Sept. 10 by a score of 2-1, while the Rebels lost 4-2 at home to Kentucky on Sept. 11.
UF and Ole Miss were both able to bounce back from those losses, with non-conference wins against Jacksonville University and Louisville on Sunday, respectively.
The win for Florida was especially one-sided, a 4-0 road victory over the JU Dolphins, as it outshot the home opponent 29-7.
But getting big wins does not warrant overconfidence, especially when it comes to a key conference matchup.
"The Texas A&M game kinda shook us a little bit," redshirt junior goalkeeper Valerie Tysinger said.
"I think its more of a focus of ‘okay, like, what’s next, what’s next’ not ‘oh we did this, now we can relax.’
"I think it’s more of a ‘okay that was one step, let’s take another one."
Even with the blowout win, there is still room for improvement, something that was evident in the JU game.
"We still saw even against Jacksonville that we had some things we still needed work on," junior forward Savannah Jordan said.
Now, the Gators will face a team in Mississippi that, according to Florida coach Becky Burleigh, embraces the same resilient attitude that her team prides itself on.
"I watched them on TV the other night, and I think they’re a team that just doesn’t quit," Burleigh said on Monday.
Much like the Rebels, UF is not prone to quitting either.
The loss to TAMU was filled with both physical and mental mistakes, and even Burleigh described the play by the Gators as "poor."
Despite the sloppiness of the game, Florida found a way to score a goal with just under 15 minutes left to get itself within one of the Aggies, and it looked as if the team would manage a draw.
Jordan will help lead the Gators into action under the Friday night lights against an Ole Miss team that returns a vast majority of its starters from last season.
Burleigh said that the experience that Mississippi presents gives the Gators a good challenge early in SEC play.
Picked as the preseason favorite to win the conference title, UF is facing a must-win situation against Ole Miss.
A loss to the Rebels would not only put the Gators into a deeper hole within the conference, but would also equal the amount of SEC losses the team had all of last season.
Last season, two losses was still too much to overcome for Florida, as it finished runner-up to TAMU for the SEC title.
"We lost our first game unfortunately," Jordan said.
"We don’t have a lot of room to lose many more."
Follow Kyle Brutman on Twitter @KBrut13
UF forward Savannah Jordan (right) dribbles the ball during the Gators' 2-1 loss to Texas A&M on Sept. 10, 2015, at Donald R. Dizney Stadium.
