The UF soccer team hit a patch of turbulence this weekend on its travels to Bloomington, Ind., and Champaign, Ill.
The Gators dropped a double-overtime decision 2-1 to Indiana on Friday. They followed it up with a 3-0 loss to UCLA on Sunday in a neutral-site match in Champaign.
UF was simply overpowered by the Bruins while trying to remedy some of the ailments that hindered the team against the Hoosiers
Against Indiana, the Gators didn't have a single shot on goal. Not one.
They raised that number to three on Sunday, including two shots on goal by Lauren Hyde in the first half.
The Bruins had 12 shots on goal, including 23 shots on the day.
"UCLA did not sit in, they put us under pressure," UF coach Becky Burleigh said. "I thought they got the better physical part of the game."
In the first half of Sunday's game, the Bruins bent but couldn't break the Gators defense. Fraine had a strong showing with five saves in the first half.
"I thought she had a good save early in the first half that kept us in it for sure," Burleigh said.
Momentum seemed to swing in the Gators' favor when Hyde attacked the Bruins goal twice in a two minutes span, but Bruins keeper Chante' Sandiford stopped both attempts.
If the Gators were riding high on confidence at the end of the first half, the Bruins brought them back to reality when Sydney Leroux scored in the 50th minute on a pass through the middle from Kristina Larsen.
The assist wasn't enough for Larsen, who buried the Bruins' second goal in the back of the net after it was initially deflected by the Gators defense.
Despite being down 0-2, UF wasn't able to get off the defensive with UCLA never taking its foot off the gas.
After sniffing and smelling only crossbar, the Bruins Ahsha Smith knocked in the backbreaking third goal after she was able to corral the rebound from UCLA forward Liz Zadro's free kick that hit the crossbar.
"We have to look at our team's performance, which this weekend exposed some things about us, which is exactly why we play games like this in order for us to get better by the time the SEC and the postseason rolls around," Burleigh said.
