The Southeastern Conference grind begins on the road this weekend for the No. 9 Florida soccer team.
After playing seven of their first nine games against non-conference opponents, the Gators will play the rest of the season against SEC opponents.
Coach Becky Burleigh's team has little room for error having already dropped a conference game this season, losing to rival Texas A&M 2-1 on Sept. 10.
The weekend’s first game comes against Vanderbilt (5-4-1, 1-1 SEC), led by first-year coach Darren Ambrose, tonight at 8 in Nashville, Tennessee.
On Oct. 30 of last season, the Gators dominated Vandy 6-1 at home.
Florida is coming into this game with the mentality that last year’s result is a thing of the past, and that labeling the Commodores will only hurt the team.
"If we do, we end up losing to ourselves," senior defender Christen Westphal said of creating assumptions about Vandy.
"We have to take each game the same."
Despite Florida’s dominance in the last matchup, the Commodores — picked to finished 13th in the SEC in preseason voting — have looked like a much better team as of late than the preseason poll indicates.
In its most recent conference game, Vanderbilt played a hotly contested road match against a TAMU team that gave the Gators a lot of trouble on both sides of the field.
Despite a 1-0 loss, Vandy was able to outshoot the defending conference champions 12-9, while the Aggies outshot the Gators 11-7 in their match in Gainesville.
"(Ambrose has) got them feeling good about themselves," Burleigh said. "I think they are a pretty confident bunch."
Following Friday’s contest in Nashville, Tennessee, Florida will head to Auburn, Alabama, to play the Tigers on Sunday at 2 p.m.
No. 13 Auburn (8-1, 1-1 SEC) is coming off a 3-1 win over Tennessee, and has recorded just one loss all season — a 2-1 defeat at Missouri.
The Tigers will serve as a challenge for Savannah Jordan and the Gators' offense.
Auburn has recorded six shutouts over nine games this season, and lets up less than half-a-goal per game, on average.
Jordan will get some much needed help from fellow junior Brooke Sharp, who has scored six goals in her last five games.
"Defenses have to worry about both of us now," Jordan said.
"It gives more of a threat for our team going forward."
The two road games commence an all-SEC schedule for UF the rest of the regular season, a span stretching nine games.
This isn’t the first time this season that the Gators have been tested on the road twice in one weekend.
The first two games of the season, against UCF and Ohio State, respectively, were played on Aug. 21 and Aug. 23.
Florida took the first game 2-0, while dropping the second game 1-0 in overtime.
This time, however, the Gators will play both matchups against conference foes.
For Burleigh, getting through this weekend requires a certain type of preparation from her team.
"It’s just getting ourselves mentally and physically ready," Burleigh said.
"(It’s) being ready for each game one at a time, and then physically taking care of our bodies before and in between the games."
Follow Kyle Brutman on Twitter @KBrut13
UF defender Christen Westphal dribbles during Florida's 2-1 loss to Texas A&M on Sept. 10, 2015, at Donald R. Dizney Stadium.
