After two big victories, Florida soccer coach Becky Burleigh normally would be worried about a letdown.
But not this week.
There is no need for extra motivation when the Seminoles rolls into Gainesville.
The buzz around Florida soccer practice Tuesday was the upcoming rivalry game against “SOW” (School Out West) as football coach Urban Meyer likes to call Florida State.
“Anytime you have a rivalry game, it just adds a little more to it,” Burleigh said. “They’re a really good team, too. We expect a really exciting, fast-paced match.”
As if they needed more motivation, the No. 7 Gators are two spots behind the No. 5 Seminoles in the polls. Although Burleigh doesn’t pay attention to the polls, some of the players look at them because they know it determines their post-season rankings.
“It’s obviously good to see where we stand in comparison to the rest of the country,” senior midfielder Angela Napolitano said. “But the only reason we look is to see where we’ll be at the end of the year.”
Napolitano has played in almost every match for the Gators since arriving in 2006, and she always circles the Seminoles on the schedule.
“I want to come out in my last game against them with a big win for us,” she said, “especially since they are ranked so high and are such a good team in the soccer world. It would be great to get a big win.”
The big win won’t be easy. Although Florida had a nice rebound weekend, particularly against then No. 20 Colorado, Napolitano stressed humility to her young teammates.
“The biggest thing, coming off of two wins, is just not to get complacent,” she said. “The UCLA game is a good reminder that we can get beat by any team in the country if we don’t come out ready to play. We have that game in the back of our minds.”
The UCLA game, a 3-0 loss for the Gators, happened nearly two weeks ago, but many players are holding onto it as motivation against non-rivalry teams.
“I don’t think it’s something that we try to stay in focus on, but it’s good to have it there,” Napolitano said. “I think before that game, we kind of felt like we were invincible.”
Now the Gators feel like they are on a hot streak. Napolitano and the rest of the Gators’ front line had five goals from four different players over the weekend.
The player who scored twice, sophomore Lindsay Thompson, spoke about the offensive explosion.
“We had a better mental attitude this weekend,” Thompson said. “Last weekend, we kind of got it taken to us. This weekend, we took it to other teams. The physical aspect of the game determines who gets the leg up.”
Florida’s last two matches were extremely physical, and two Florida players were penalized with yellow cards over the course of the weekend.
“We have a willingness to go hard for every ball—even at risk of injury,” Thompson said.
Burleigh said that she was happy with the physical nature of the last two games, but she cautioned that the team still has a lot of tactical issues to work on.
She wants her defense to drop back better against the speedy forwards of FSU, and she wants more people in the box on Florida’s offensive attacks.
Not having to find a motivation for the team is freeing up her time.
“That part of my job as a coach this week is a piece of cake,” she said.
BREAKING FREE: Midfielder Lindsay Thompson had a rare opportunity in Sunday’s match against Colorado—a breakaway goal.
She received a pass near midfield and beat a defender to it, setting her up one-on-one with the keeper. When she got close to the goal, she noticed that the keeper wasn’t coming out.
She shot hard and low to the keeper’s left and scored.
“Well, it was just kind of an adrenaline rush … but there is also a lot of pressure,” Thompson said. “It’s like a PK (penalty kick), you just can miss it.”
POPSICLES: Freshman Brooke Thigpen earned two honors this week. On Monday, she was named the SEC Freshman Player of the Week, and on Tuesday, she was listed on the CollegeSoccer360.com Primetime Performers List.
Coach Burleigh was happy for her midfielder.
“I think it’s great,” she said. “It’s well-deserved recognition—she played a big part in our wins last weekend.”
The individual awards, Burleigh said, are a result of the team’s play.
“Anytime you get an award like that, it is an award for the team,” Burleigh said. “It pretty much has to be in a winning effort.”
So to celebrate as a team, Burleigh got everyone popsicles for after practice.
NSCAA/adidas DIVISION I SOCCER RANKINGS
Rank School W-L Pts Prv
1. North Carolina (32) 6-0-0 825 1
2. Portland 7-0-0 789 2
3. Stanford 7-0-0 762 3
4. UCLA 4-1-1 707 6
5. Florida State 6-1-0 669 4
6. Boston College 6-0-0 633 10
7. Florida 5-2-0 542 14
8. Wake Forest 7-1-0 461 8
9. California 5-1-0 459 16
10. Virginia 4-1-2 455 9
11. Purdue 5-2-0 433 7
12. Santa Clara 5-2-0 415 RV
13. South Carolina 6-0-0 384 18
14. Notre Dame 3-3-0 379 5
15. Georgia 6-0-1 352 15
16. Rutgers 5-1-1 330 17
17. Texas A&M 3-3-0 329 13
18. San Diego 5-2-1 308 21
19. UCF 5-1-1 220 RV
20. Maryland 7-0-0 151 RV
21. Denver 5-1-1 145 RV
22. Indiana 6-1-0 110 25
23. Colorado 4-3-0 102 20
24. Oklahoma State 5-2-0 92 19
25. Ohio State 5-1-1 84 RV
Others: Illinois 79, West Virginia 72, Pepperdine 67, Arizona State 62, Kansas 54, St. John’s 48, Villanova 46, Northeastern 42, Minnesota 25, Michigan State 17, Washington 17, Connecticut 15, William & Mary 12, Marquette 11, Washington State 5, Georgetown 4, Tennessee 4, Charlotte 4, Colorado College 3, Dayton 1, BYU 1.