Seeking to avoid being ousted in the second round of the Southeastern Conference tournament for the second straight season, the Gators found themselves faced with adversity just minutes into the match.
But coach Becky Burleigh’s Florida team stayed composed and focused, relying on the gameplan that had led them to a regular season SEC title.
In the quarterfinal of the SEC Tournament, No. 5 Florida (15-3-1, 9-2-1 SEC) rallied from an early deficit to defeat Vanderbilt by a score of 2-1 on Wednesday night in Orange Beach, Alabama.
The Commodores got their first and only goal on what seemed to be a miscommunication on Florida’s back line.
Senior defenders Claire Falknor and Christen Westphal had trouble figuring out who’d retrieve a back pass, allowing Vandy’s Simone Charley to take advantage of the situation.
Charley — who had two assists in the regular season match against UF — made a run for the ball, taking it to the right side of the box and hitting a shot to the far left post.
The shot deflected off Westphal, preventing Florida goalkeeper Kaylan Marckese from reading the shot, as she desperately dove to try to save the slow roller, but failed to get a finger on it.
Charley gave Florida trouble in its regular season game on Sept. 25 , and Wednesday night was no different.
Every time Charley was on or near the ball, the Florida defense had to be on its toes, gravitating toward the opponent’s greatest offensive threat.
The goal count would have been much greater for the Commodores if a couple of long runs from the Vanderbilt (9-8-4, 4-5-3 SEC) junior had gone differently.
"Charley is always going to be a threat because of that pace," Burleigh said.
But — despite some threatening runs — the Florida defense, led by Falknor, was able to shut her down and prevent her from taking over the Gator defensive third.
"She’s a tough player to handle," Burleigh said.
"I thought we did a good job with that."
Just more than 15 minutes later, the Gators struck back.
A long shot from junior midfielder Meggie Dougherty Howard was deflected near the net by junior forward Savannah Jordan, redirecting the ball opposite of Vandy goalkeeper Christiana Ogunsami’s dive for her SEC-leading 20th goal and tying the game 1-1.
The first half saw Florida take a staggering 15 shots, but Ogunsami was about as breakable as a diamond on her back line throughout the game.
Despite allowing two goals, the sophomore keeper saw 24 Florida shots, making nine saves on the night.
But that success starts with the "set defense" that Vandy was showing throughout the night.
The Commodores played a lot of numbers inside their own box, which can give an opposing offense some trouble and frustration.
"When we train in practice, we usually put the offense up by two or three players and then play against a set defense and it’s still hard," Burleigh said.
"The fact that we were able to break them down is impressive."
It took a little more than 30 minutes after the second half whistle for the tie to be broken, but it was Florida who would eventually deliver the decisive goal.
Off a corner from Westphal in the 76th minute, junior Pam Begic headed a ball from the left near side of the box into the near side of the net for her fourth goal of the season, making the game 2-1 in the Gators’ favor.
The assist was Westphal’s 11th of the year.
The goal foiled Vandy’s attempt to hold on to the tie till the end of regulation.
But the deciding goal didn’t come without any risks.
The Gators continued to attack even with the game seemingly under control, which Burleigh said left the team exposed to a potential counter attack from the Commodores.
"That’s a dangerous situation because we had to continue to press forward offensively, which leaves us vulnerable to the counter," Burleigh said.
"It was definitely a puzzle, and I thought our team handled it pretty well."
The counter attack that Florida exposed itself to on the goal never happened, as the Gators held on for the victory.
The road only gets tougher for the Gators heading into the semifinal round.
UF will take on Auburn in the semifinals on Friday at 4:30 p.m. on the SEC Network, after the Tigers beat South Carolina 5-3 on PKs on Wednesday night.
In their lone matchup this season, the Tigers beat Florida 3-2 on Sept. 27 at Auburn.
Follow Kyle Brutman on Twitter @KBrut13
UF midfielder Pamela Begic dribbles the ball while FSU's Elin Jensen (5) approaches during the first half of Florida's 3-2 win against Florida State on Aug. 30, 2015, at James G. Pressly Stadium.
