Florida women’s soccer head coach Becky Burleigh said her team’s lesson from a 2-1 overtime victory Friday night against Kentucky should be to put teams away early in games.
The Gators heard the message clearly and responded loudly with a 5-1 victory over Vanderbilt Sunday at James G. Pressly Stadium.
Florida (8-3, 2-0 SEC) closed out its first weekend of SEC play with a statement victory that included a pair of goals from redshirt freshman McKenzie Barney, who missed last season with an ACL tear.
By the 51st minute, the Gators were up 3-0 and putting the game out of reach.
“I think that was the best thing to come out of this game,” Burleigh said. “In the beginning of the second half, we kind of put the game out of reach. Especially on Sundays, it being as hot as it is, it’s going to be tough for teams to climb back in it if we do that.”
Florida benefited greatly from the depth and conditioning of its team on a hot Sunday afternoon. After the first goal in the 33rd minute from sophomore Tahnai Annis, the Gators were able to maintain possession for much of the remainder of the half.
All of that passing led to Barney’s first goal of the game in the 44th minute, which was a rebound off a Tahnai Annis cross that the goalkeeper couldn’t handle.
Annis, who finished with a goal and two assists, was also involved on Barney’s second goal. Off a corner kick in the 82nd minute, Annis had a great look at a goal but deferred to Barney, who hit a 4-yard tap-in.
Annis’ performance was a flash of the player that Florida saw much of last season but hadn’t seen yet this year. Burleigh praised her not for the goal she scored, but for her unselfish play.
“I thought the second goal that Mac (McKenzie Barney) scored, she (Annis) played unselfishly,” Burleigh said. “She had a good look at the goal and she gave it to Mac to finish. When you play unselfishly like that, tap-ins occur—tap-ins are goals that the keeper can’t really do anything about.”
The goal was one of two that resulted from a Florida corner kick. Burleigh stresses the importance of set pieces in soccer, and was asked if she was relieved by the first goals off corner kicks this season.
“Absolutely,” Burleigh said. “That’s been a long time coming. The key is the serve – if it’s a good serve, it’s easy to finish.”
The serves came from Nicky Kit, who had two assists on the game. Vanderbilt’s lone goal came in the 89th minute against backup goalkeeper Kendhall Graham on a 10-yard shot from Vanderbilt’s Megan Forester.
Before that, Florida starter Katie Fraine had pitched a shutout by showing a range of saves, from gives on low balls to leaping stops.
“I think she definitely made some big saves early, and she made some good decisions to start our fastbreaks,” Burleigh said of her keeper. “I thought she played a good game.”
Fraine never likes to leave a game early, and she certainly doesn’t like to see a shutout evaporate, but she knows that the best way for Graham to learn is through playing time.
“It does (hurt to lose the shutout),” Fraine said, “but like I said last time, she’s young and she’s got to get experience somehow. Sometimes you have to learn from your mistakes. I’m proud of her.”
Fraine also was quick to credit the offense for the five-goal performance that alleviated the pressure for the defense. Although the Commodores finished with five more shots than the Gators, only a few of them were threats to score.
“It was great,” said Fraine, who had five saves in nearly 77 minutes of action. “It felt awesome. As a goalkeeper, all we can really do is stop the ball and maybe kick it far enough where we can head it in. It was amazing to see us get it all together. It relaxes me, and I can’t relax too much because then I let down a little bit. But it makes you feel like you can play openly and do what you have to do and just have fun.”
Burleigh credited Fraine for her saves and for jumpstarting a few Florida fastbreaks. For the Gators, though, the three points they earn for a win in the SEC remain the most important part of the game.
“Our goal is to get three points, and to get three points twice this weekend is what we went into this weekend having as a goal, and it’s what we came out with.”
The only bad news for the Gators from the game was when freshman Natalie Torosian left the game with a hip injury after colliding with Vanderbilt keeper Rachel Bachtel in the second half. Burleigh said that she believes the injury is a bruise and nothing more.
The Gators travel to Mississippi this weekend for their next set of SEC games against Mississippi State (Friday at 8 p.m. EDT) and Ole Miss (Sunday at 1 p.m. EDT).