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Friday, March 29, 2024

The Gators stood on the field in disbelief.

As they slowly walked to the sideline, their pained expressions screamed BNot again.C

For the second year in a row, the UF soccer team traveled to Los Angeles for the NCAA Round of 16 and left choking back tears.

Southern California knocked off the third-seeded Gators (17-5-3, 9-2 Southeastern Conference) 1-0 and advanced to the Elite Eight for the first time in program history.

The parallels to last year are staggering. Last season, UF lost to UCLA in the Round of 16 after knocking off Marquette 4-3 in penalty kicks.

This year, the Gators needed the same dosage of skill and luck to escape feisty Central Florida and advance to face USC.

All season, UF talked about avenging its season-ending 3-2 loss to UCLA and about finishing this season with a national title.

But with an opportunity to escape last season?s demons in the same city that left them broken, the Gators fell short once again.

There is one difference, though.

This time the team has no one else to blame. There will be no arguments that bad calls greatly influenced the outcome. This time, UF admitted it wasn?t the best team on the field.

BI think we gave really good effort, but we didn?t play our best,C Gators coach Becky Burleigh said. BI think we could have been a bit more patient and made the best of a few more of our opportunities. You?re never upset at your team losing if they played hard. And we went out there and played hard.C

The Trojans? lone score came off a free kick early in the second half against redshirt freshman goalkeeper Katie Fraine. USC midfielder Ashley Nick sent a ball into the box and defender Kasey Johnson scored untouched on a header.

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The Trojans? defense stymied UF?s attack. The Gators appeared to be on their heels the entire game and were outshot for just the third time all year, 16-6.

BThey have a pretty tricky formation that helped them defend against us, because they would sit in between our lines on offense,C defender Shelley Lyle said. BThat definitely became a factor.

BIt was just one of those games that just wasn?t really going our way. We just fought and fought, but couldn?t put it in the back of the net, so it was frustrating.C

Despite not reaching her team?s final goal, Burleigh still views the season as a success. The Gators won the SEC Tournament title for the first time since 2004 and featured four players on the All-SEC preseason teams.

BOverall when we look at it we?ll see it as a success,C Burleigh said. BBut right now it doesn?t feel like it. We won our conference and that?s a positive.C

With eight seniors departing, the Gators will be scrambling to replace several key pieces next season. Burleigh isn?t concerned with that right now.

BWe just lost,C she said. BI?m not worried about next season. You can ask me about that in August.C

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