Following each of Florida’s nine non-conference games, a video had to be posted online to keep other teams around the Southeastern Conference informed on the Gators’ play.
When UF’s conference rivals eventually tuned in to the feed, they likely expected to see midfielder McKenzie Barney and forward Tahnai Annis pick up where they left off last season as the No. 6 Gators’ (7-2) leading scorers.
Instead, other teams witnessed Florida’s established stars miss huge chunks of the game and a steady stream of freshmen picking up the slack with a combined eight goals and nine assists.
“There’s nothing better than a diverse goal-scoring group,” Barney said. “You can’t ask for more from a team. We’d like for those goals to be a lot more, but the fact that we’re getting them from different people game in and game out is awesome.”
Despite coming off a career season in which she scored an SEC-best 14 goals, Barney has been on the field for just 43.66 minutes per game — the fewest in her two healthy seasons with the Gators after an ACL tear sidelined her in 2008.
As a redshirt freshman, she played almost six minutes more per contest, and that built up to last season, when she started all but two games and saw 70.88 minutes per match.
With Florida nearly at the midway point of the 2011 campaign, Barney’s sharp decline in playing time has also hurt her production on the field. The midfielder has only found the back netting twice thus far.
“Last year was last year,” she said. “This is a better scenario to be in, because if you’re not on, then someone else is going to be on. That’s team dynamics and that’s what is going to make us successful.”
Barney isn’t alone in battling for playing time with freshmen like midfielders Annie Speese (three goals, four assists) and Havana Solaun (two goals, two assists) and forward Tessa Andujar (two goals, one assist).
Annis, a senior and second-team All-SEC selection with 13 goals last year, is playing 26 fewer minutes per game this season and has scored three times. Even the team leader in goals, junior midfielder Erika Tymrak, is seeing less time. The 75-plus minutes she played last year has dropped to 66.33 this season.
“When the focus can be taken off [Tymrak] and maybe spread around to a few others, that’s good for us,” assistant coach Alan Kirkup said. “We expect Tahnai and Mack to score or create chances for us. I mean, I don’t think that’s an issue, the fact that other people can step up and do those things too is a bonus for us.”
In 2010, opposing defenses knew where the Gators’ scoring was coming from as Annis and Barney accounted for 48 percent of the team’s goals. This season, the attack has a far more balanced approach with the pair responsible for just 19 percent.
Over an eight-day span stretching back to last week, Florida downed Florida Gulf Coast, Missouri and Kansas by a combined score of 14-2, and received goals from nine different players, leading Annis to believe the midfielders and forwards are finally starting to jell in the offensive rotation.
Along with Barney’s goal against the Jayhawks, Annis played her most impressive game of the season with two goals in only 49 minutes.
“Our offense is finally coming together more than it has,” she said. “We’re starting to find more connections and combinations up front that have really helped our offensive explosion.”
Contact John Boothe at jboothe@alligator.org.
Gators midfielder McKenzie Barney led the Southeastern Conference with 14 goals last season, but she only has two goals through nine games this year and is playing less than 45 minutes per game.
