Though McKenzie Barney might be lagging behind her conference-leading scoring pace from a year ago, the Gators’ team captain still has a habit of finding the net when her team needs it the most.
With foul stoppages and Kentucky’s (9-3, 2-2 Southeastern Conference) high-pressure system frustrating Florida (10-3, 3-1 SEC) for almost an hour, the Gators finally received a moment of brilliance from Barney, a redshirt junior, who buried the ninth game-winning goal of her career to put the Gators ahead for good in a 3-0 win.
Barney’s third goal of the year was also her second game-winner this season, the other coming in the 90th minute against Texas A&M on Aug. 26.
Midway through the first half against the Wildcats, however, the scene appeared much bleaker for Barney, as coach Becky Burleigh subbed out all three of UF’s starting forwards due to another slow start.
“[Our attack] wasn’t really clicking, and I’m sure you guys could see that,” Barney said. “We changed formations a little bit, and she was kind of like, ‘Let’s get our groove.’”
After sitting out the rest of the opening half, Barney was able to revive her goal-scoring mojo in the 56th minute. Junior Holly King and fellow midfielder Havana Solaun, a freshman, supplied assists off consecutive passes through the middle of the Wildcats’ defense and found Barney open in her center forward position.
Kentucky’s back line was then unhinged by two quick touches from Barney, who fired a booming shot from 17 yards out to give Florida a 1-0 lead.
“It takes some amazing players and some amazing vision to realize their middle player can easily be split,” she said. “Phenomenal ball, you can’t ask for a better ball in. I had no one on me and [Solaun] found the open man. That’s how you get it done.”
The Gators immediately loosened up offensively with the lead, as they took eight shots in the final 45 minutes, compared to just two in the first half.
With space opening along Kentucky’s flanks for deep runs, freshman midfielder Annie Speese was found for two consecutive goals in the 74th and 86th minutes. Speese scored her first by cleaning up a deflected shot from 3 yards out sent in from fellow midfielder Erika Tymrak.
Barney and Solaun were credited for assists less than 12 minutes later when they set up Speese’s fifth goal of the season. Speese finished a through ball on the left side from five yards out to extend Florida’s lead to 3-0.
“They kind of pushed us around a lot in the first half, so we were talking in the locker room about coming out relaxed and playing our game,” Speese said. “When we came out, we just looked to play one-two touch and move the ball around.”
On the sideline, Burleigh also became perplexed by the physical play. She blamed much of the game’s slow start on the 16 fouls called on the Gators, compared to just five levied against the Wildcats.
“What made the game difficult was so many stoppages of play; it was just so choppy,” Burleigh said. “The whistle was blowing all the time, and most of the time we weren’t sure what it was blowing for. That’s frustrating, but we managed to keep our composure.”
One of Florida’s few legitimate scoring chances in the first half was thwarted on a questionable no-call by the referee crew. After Tymrak played a beautiful ball to Barney in the left side of the opposing box, UK defender Ashley VanLandingham used her forearm to push Barney to the ground in what looked like a penalty-kick-worthy sequence.
“It’s difficult; it’s a 50-50 (call) and I tried to do what I could with it,” Barney said. “I got pulled down. It’s unfortunate we didn’t get the call, but, at the end of the day, you can’t change the referee’s mind.”
Contact John Boothe at jboothe@alligator.org.
