If the Gators were not motivated before, they are now.
Starting tonight at 8, No. 4 Florida returns to Athens, Ga., for the first time since 2008 to play a three-game weekend series against No. 9 Georgia. Coach Tim Walton’s squad not only has the pressure to maintain its dominance in the Eastern Division of the Southeastern Conference, but it also will try to rebound from a disappointing loss.
With a double-header against Chattanooga canceled due to rain on March 14, Wednesday night's 4-1 loss to USF was Florida’s first look at a nonconference opponent since entering its rigorous SEC schedule. The result was the Gators first home defeat this season and their first loss to the Bulls in seven years.
When asked if Wednesday's result can serve as motivation to the team, Walton said it can’t hurt.
“Any time you lose a game, you’re going to find out what your team is made of the next game,” Walton said. “I think, not only for [Wednesday] but for the future, I think it’s going to be good for us to lose a ballgame like that. I’m typically a little bit nicer after losses [but Wednesday] I ripped them. I ripped them hard.”
Georgia is the sixth ranked opponent Florida will face this season, and the fourth top-10 team.
Kelsey Horton is looking to help her team improve to 5-3 against top-25 teams despite UF having a rough recent history against the Bulldogs. The Bulldogs swept the Gators last year, outscoring UF 28-13 in Katie Seashole Stadium.
“It’s definitely going to be a tough series,” Horton said. “Georgia is always a good matchup. It’s going to be loud, there’s going to be a lot of fans and it’s going to be exciting. [It’s] three tough games on the road.”
Now, Florida will return to Athens with hopes of repeating its last visit when it took all three games from Georgia.
Making the long bus ride up to UGA may actually be a good thing for the Gators; they have a better winning percentage in Jack Turner Stadium against the Bulldogs (.684) than they do when facing them at home (.520).
No one is more motivated to perform well this weekend than Lauren Haeger. The freshman pitcher gave up four runs in seven innings in the loss to USF on Wednesday. And Haeger had the opportunity to redeem herself when she stepped up to the plate with two on and her team down by three in the bottom of the seventh; but instead she struck out swinging.
“My expectations are always just to come out and win ballgames,” Haeger said. “And to do that, we have to play perfect defense, we have to pitch great, we have to hit great and I know we can. This team is amazing and we’ll surprise a lot of people this weekend.”
