After cruising through the Southeastern Conference last season, the Florida soccer team certainly didn’t expect the situation they’re in now. With one game to go, the 10th-ranked Gators (13-4-2, 7-1-2 SEC) are first place in the SEC and ready to repeat as regular season champions, needing a win tonight over #12 South Carolina (15-2-1, 7-2-1 SEC) to pull off a what seemed improbable just a week ago when South Carolina held the advantage. Now it is the Gators who have the advantage and they need only to win tonight to repeat as SEC champs.
Florida got into position to win the conference championship with pressure-packed wins over LSU and Arkansas. The experience of playing in such high profile games should help the Gators against South Carolina.
“Every game we’ve had for the last couple of weeks has been a must-win game,” head coach Becky Burleigh said. “It’s no different than what we’ve been experiencing. I think this team understands that it’s an important game. They want to win a conference championship. What better place can you be than to be at home against a good team?”
For Florida’s seniors, who have won every regular season SEC title in their careers, the game carries special meaning. Not only do they want their fourth win, it could also be their last game at James G. Pressly Stadium.
“I’ve been telling all my friends this could be my last game at home, you have to come watch it,” said Florida senior defender Caitlin Howard. “I’m so excited, especially if we get the win, it’s just gonna be the best feeling ever to be at home—even if it is the last game at home—I just want to make it the best game.”
It has been an up-and-down season for Florida, which dropped some unexpected games early in the season and struggled on the road consistently until the two most recent road games, 1-0 wins over Georgia and Arkansas.
The recent wins make it seem the Gators are hitting their stride at the right time. Burleigh has been experimenting with a second starting lineup, which would be advantageous for the brutal playoff schedule that the Gators will face starting with the SEC tournament.
She used the last three games as a model of what the postseason will be like — every game is a must-win.
“Our whole season tries to prepare us for the postseason,” she said, “and this is no different. South Carolina definitely an NCAA tournament team, and this game will be really good for us.”
For the seniors, there is no thinking past this game.
“All the seniors, we’ve been talking. We keep realizing that each of these games is our last something,” Howard said. “I think it’d be really special to get that final win, and to get the conference for four years in a row. I think that’s something we’ll all remember for the rest of our lives.”
And there is no better team to test their late-season surge against than South Carolina. Howard said that the team has been keeping tabs on South Carolina all season, comparing scores against opponents both teams have faced and keeping a close eye on their top competition.
Senior midfielder Angela Napolitano said that the situation is different than it’s ever been for her class.
“It’s definitely a really big game,” Napolitano said. “I don’t ever remember a time in my years here when one game determined it, so that’s really exciting. It’s like we know what we have to do, and we know that if we play well, the results should take care of themselves. It’s exciting that if we get this win, it’ll be four years in a row.”
The Gators are a young team, bolstered by a strong freshman class, but the seniors have seen significant improvement in them. Even the sophomores — who won every SEC game as freshmen — have had to learn a little bit about struggling.
The most important message that they’re sharing is how important it is to win this game and this title.
“That fourth SEC title will just be the icing on the cake,” Napolitano said, “and that’s definitely the way my class wants to go out. To be able to say that we won the SEC four years in a row would be huge.”
And, of equal importance, this championship could be the start of another streak.
“It’s a really prestigious thing,” Napolitano said. “We’re in a tough conference, and it’s always a struggle to win. This win can be the beginning of a great legacy that they can start now. I would really love for them to have four in a row.”