It’s one thing to lose as time expires, but the Gators have been setting themselves up for defeat 85 minutes sooner.
As No. 23 Florida (14-6, 7-4 Southeastern Conference) prepares to take on Georgia (12-5-2, 6-3-2 SEC) tonight in the opening round of the SEC Tournament in Orange Beach, Ala., it will try to put a stop to the slow starts that have plagued it throughout conference play.
The Gators have allowed a goal in the first five minutes four times since SEC action started, including in three of their last four games. Only once in those games, a 2-1 loss to South Carolina in the regular-season finale, were they able to respond with a goal in the first half.
Defensive turnovers against Tennessee and South Carolina led to early goals. In order to limit the giveaways and easy scores, Florida defenders are trying to remain focused.
“It’s just staying composed in the back and staying calm,” sophomore outside back Maggie Rodgers said of the early goals. “Sometimes we’ll get out of rhythm and make a couple mistakes and that is how most teams score on us.”
The Gators have struggled offensively early in games as well. Freshman forward Annie Speese attributes the offense’s struggles to letting the angst of trailing bother them.
“We just need to relax and have fun,” Speese said. “It’s just been a lot of pressure.”
Coach Becky Burleigh believes one of the causes is a lack of aggressiveness on offense.
“We were a bit tentative to start that game,” said Burleigh, referring to the loss against South Carolina.
“For us, psychologically, that was tough because we’ve been in so many situations in recent weeks where we give up an early goal, and all of a sudden your mindset is saying, ‘Ugh, here we go again.’”
During practice on Sunday, in order to help the offense in high-pressure situations, Burleigh put her team through a drill she stole from basketball coach Billy Donovan.
The players had to finish 60 goals in eight minutes. They made just 37 on their first chance.
The next time they did it, they finished with 20 seconds remaining.
“It was an eye-opener to them to see how much they can raise their level,” Burleigh said. “Any kind of simulated pressure is a good thing for us at this point.”
The longer it takes the Gators to rebound from that early goal, the more likely it is the opposition will drop into a bunker.
If there is no bunker, Burleigh said it is still imperative that the Gators not play tentatively on the attack early in games, because doing so allows the other team to get as many as three lines of defenders behind the ball.
Conversely, an aggressive attack would only have to deal with the back line and defensive midfielders.
Coach Becky Burleigh and the Gators lost their first match since Sept. 14 on Friday in Tuscaloosa, Ala. Alabama defeated Florida 1-0 using primarily a bunker defense.
