Following last Saturday’s 1-0 NCAA Tournament first round win against Western Michigan, junior forward Savannah Jordan laid out everything that needed to be known about tonight’s matchup against William & Mary (14-4-3, 7-1-1 Colonial Athletic Association) at 7 in one simple sentence.
“We’ve yet to play our best soccer.”
Heading into the second round of the NCAA Tournament, No. 2 regional seed Florida (18-3-1, 8-2-1 Southeastern Conference) is riding a 10-game winning streak that spans back to a 2-1 win over Tennessee on Oct. 9.
In that time, it has captured the SEC regular season and tournament titles and has outscored opponents 7-2 in four postseason games, including 14-2 in its last six games overall.
Yet there is still progress to be made before the end of the season.
However, coach Becky Burleigh’s 21st season as the UF soccer coach could come to an abrupt finish tonight at Donald R. Dizney Stadium in Gainesville.
Last game, the Gators were able to escape a late-match surge from the Broncos, coached by fourth-year coach Nate Norman.
However, Florida will welcome one of the game’s most tenured coaches tonight in John Daly.
Daly has coached the Tribe since 1987, when Norman was just a two-year-old. The UF soccer program was born in Daly’s ninth year at the helm of William & Marry.
Burleigh said on Monday that she had once taken a picture with the William and Mary coach when she was an early teen.
There will be a lot of coaching experience on both sides of the pitch tonight, and that means there is little room for misplaced passes or miscommunication.
But as Jordan said, the Gators have yet to play their best soccer, even with the emergences of freshman goalkeeper Kaylan Marckese and freshman midfielder Briana Solis.
The urgency of playing an elimination game will only increase Florida’s will to play at its best.
And that means playing the Gators’ brand of soccer.
Part of that is not getting pulled into trying to match the Tribe’s play style.
“Sometimes we get into games… and we kind of fall into what the other team is doing,” Jordan said.
While composure is an intangible in sports, it could serve as an x-factor in a game with such high stakes.
Florida is all too familiar with losing composure late in games this season. The Gators saw two shutouts turn to crumbles in the final ticks of consecutive 2-1 wins over LSU and Mississippi State.
Against Western Michigan, Florida allowed the Broncos to gain quick momentum towards the end of the game with just the one goal lead.
If William & Mary were on the opposing bench that night, the end result may have been far different.
“For us,” Burleigh said on Monday,“ it’s about, ‘can we maintain composure and play the way that we want to play for 90 minutes?”
Follow Kyle Brutman on Twitter @KBrut13
UF forward Savannah Jordan takes a shot during Florida's 2-1 win against LSU on Oct. 11, 2015, at James G. Pressly Stadium.
