The Gators dubbed their first loss of the season — a 4-2 upset at the hands of Northwestern, — a valuable learning experience.
What about the team’s second loss, a 7-0 drubbing they received at the hands of No. 4 Stanford on Sunday?
“Just ouch,” coach Roland Thornqvist said.
Really?
“Really. That’s what it was,” he said. “I’ve been here 13 years and we haven’t had a lot of those.”
The Gators have lost seven times since the start of the 2010 season. Four of those losses have come against Stanford.
The difference between the Northwestern loss and the Stanford loss is plain.
The first defeat made the freshmen-loaded Florida aware of the target on its back — one that can only be acquired from winning two straight national championships and conquering the Southeastern Conference three years in a row.
Every opponent the Gators face wants to beat them — badly.
The seniors, and now the freshmen, understand that.
“Sometimes the underdog will come in and play very free because they have no pressure on them,” senior Alexandra Cercone said earlier in the season. “So you know, they could come out and have the match of their life.”
Lesson learned.
That makes the second match against Stanford the exam, one Thornqvist thinks the team failed.
“When you’re an athlete at Florida, every year, you go through a thorough examination, coaches and players, of what you’re made of,” Thornqvist said.
“The Northwestern loss really taught us a valuable lesson, I thought, and we rebounded so nicely the match after [that] loss. What our players had outlined, what they wanted, how they supported each other, so on and so forth. We really didn’t do a good job of that [against Stanford].”
After three years of deferring to former All-Americans Lauren Embree and Allie Will, the blame is now naturally shifted to Florida’s oldest players: Olivia Janowicz, Sofie Oyen and Cercone.
The four losses to Stanford compose over half the team’s defeats since the arrival of the Gators’ current seniors. For those three, the transition from students to leaders has had its challenges.
“It has to be our leaders who have been through the ring of fire already — our seniors,” Thornqvist said. “I think they were very hurt by the loss [Sunday]. For the first time, they’re responsible for the whole group. And there’s a learning curve to that, just as there’s one to a freshmen coming in and trying to figure everything out.”
However, if history is any indication, there is good news for Florida.
After falling to Stanford in the 11th game of the 2011 season — almost the exact situation the Gators (8-2) find themselves in now — Florida rattled off 21 consecutive wins en route to an NCAA Championship.
After losing to Stanford the next year, the Gators finished the season with 22 consecutive wins and a second national title.
“It’s part of the romance of being here, I think,” Thornqvist said. “You just get put to the test every time.
“When we fly to Palo Alto to play the defending national champions, we expect to win. And when we don’t, it’s supposed to hurt. That’s just the way it is.”
Florida is hoping history repeats itself as it prepares for its next match against No. 9 Texas A&M at the end of the week.
“[This weekend] just isn’t the standard we’re accustomed to, and I think [the team] takes full responsibility and accountability. I sure do,” Thornqvist said.
“They’re going to be better Friday, I can guarantee you that.”
Follow Ian Cohen on Twitter @ibcohen5
Olivia Janowicz returns the ball during Florida’s 4-0 win against Harvard on Jan. 26 at the Ring Tennis Complex.
