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Thursday, March 28, 2024

With the Gators traveling to No. 5 Florida State next week, a young, struggling UF offense was in dire need of some confidence.

After Friday's 1-0 loss to Central Florida, No. 22 UF was running out of time to prove it could have a breakout scoring game.

Then Nebraska came to James G. Pressley Stadium Sunday afternoon.

The Gators came out firing yet had similar results as Friday by missing good scoring chances, including an open shot from Angela Napolitano that went high over the net.

But just moments later in the 17th minute, Nicky Kit found Napolitano with a long cross from the left side, and Napolitano placed the ball just past the Cornhuskers goalie Jessica Mills in the left corner.

"I knew we were creating good offensive opportunities, so it was just a matter of sticking one in," Napolitano said.

The early lead was quickly erased by Nebraska freshman forward Molly Thomas in the 24th minute.

But the Gators were even faster to respond with a goal two minutes later by senior forward Megan Kerns, who barely got a touch on another Kit cross, but it was just enough for it to squirt past Mills.

After that, UF began to pour it on, scoring another goal in the first half and three more in the second period to win 6-1, including another by Kerns and one more by Napolitano.

Napolitano's second goal was deflected by the keeper and rolled along the goal line before Kerns slid in to put it to the back of the net for what appeared to be her third goal, but it was decided the ball had already crossed the line before she got to it.

The team's ability to finish was a big change from the match against UCF, in which UF took 17 shots and couldn't score, but the difference could have stemmed from a talk the team had Saturday.

"We went into a room and set a bunch of goals, and one of the main goals was not just to shoot the ball but to finish it," Kerns said.

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While the win gives the Gators (2-1-1) momentum for next Sunday's match against FSU, it was even more important, according to UF coach Becky Burleigh, than most of the players realized.

"We didn't talk about this with the team, but I think it was a must-win game for us," Burleigh said. "We can't let anything bring us down. If we wanted (to have) sulked about Friday night and just lay down and feel sorry for ourselves, that wouldn't have helped us at all, so this was the perfect antidote."

The newfound confidence will be a huge part in preparing the large group of freshmen for later on in the season.

Due to the large lead late in the game, Burleigh was able to give some of the freshmen more playing time than in closer games.

"It was really important (to get them in the game) because it is a long season, and we are going to need people to step up in critical situations and this is where they get that experience," Burleigh said.

Lindsay Thompson took advantage of the extra action by scoring her first collegiate goal in the 80th minute. Tahnai Annis got the first start of her career, becoming the third freshman to start in a game this year, and scored her second goal this season in the 54th minute.

Although the offensive output might have been the confidence booster, the rebuilt defense, with three new starters, had another solid outing. The defense allowed only three shots on goal and still has not allowed more than one goal in a game this season.

The lack of chances for opponents is making Burleigh's decision between Meghan Berlingo and Katie Fraine for the team's permanent goalie even tougher, but she was still impressed with Berlingo's performance against Nebraska.

"It was one of those games we knew they were going to serve a lot of long balls in, and she dealt with that very well," Burleigh said.

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