The Gators are in a familiar situation, but a new spot.
For the third consecutive season, No. 18 Florida (14-5, 7-3 Southeastern Conference) and No. 22 South Carolina (14-5, 8-2 SEC) will play for the SEC title in both teams’ regular-season finale.
Only this time, UF will be the team playing for a share of the conference title, and South Carolina will be trying to win it outright when the pair square off tonight at 7 at Pressly Stadium.
The Gators’ recent struggles in conference play have put them in the unfamiliar position of being the hunters rather than the hunted. It is the first season since the Gators’ streak of five consecutive SEC titles began in 2006 that they have dropped three conference games.
Florida is coming off a stretch in which it needed an 80th-minute goal to tie last-place Arkansas before pulling it out in overtime, and suffered 1-0 losses to Mississippi State and LSU.
“I’m stunned that we still have an opportunity to win the SEC,” coach Becky Burleigh said. “But I’m excited about it.”
The two teams’ familiarity with each other extends beyond the regular season. While the Gators won the SEC regular-season title in 2009 and 2010 on the final weekend, the two teams also met in the SEC Tournament Final during both seasons. Florida won the most recent matchup, while South Carolina was victorious in 2009.
Redshirt junior midfielder McKenzie Barney said the Gators are well aware of what they need to do as a team to have success against the Gamecocks.
“The keys to our success in the past have been finishing our opportunities,” Barney said. “Obviously that’s something we need to work on, and if we can do that then hopefully this game will be in the bag.”
On defense, Barney said it is just as important that Florida limit South Carolina’s scoring chances. Two players Florida will have to focus on are seniors Kayla Grimsley and Kortney Rhoades. Grimsley is tied with Gators junior Erika Tymrak for fourth in the SEC in points with 27, while Rhoades has seven goals and four assists.
“Kayla and Kortney are some of the top threats in the SEC, and we have a huge amount of respect for them,” Barney said. “We do have to pay attention to them, but in the same sense, it is 11 v. 11, so we have to focus on everyone.”
While the stakes are slightly different, Burleigh said the Gators have been preparing for tonight’s game with the same mindset they had for the last two regular-season meetings with the Gamecocks or any other games for that matter.
“We don’t really do anything special against them,” Burleigh said. “We just try to play the way we play.”
