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 2-1 decision to Indiana on Friday. They followed it up with a 3-0 loss to UCLA on Sunday in Champaign.
UF didn't have a single shot on goal against the Hoosiers, who put in own goal for UF's only score. Floirda improved that number to three on Sunday
The Bruins? Twelve shots on goal, including 22 shots on the day.
"UCLA did not sit it, 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. Katie Fraine was instrumental in keeping UF in the game with five saves in the first half.
Momentum seemed to swing in favor of the Gators when they attacked the Bruins goal twice in a span of two minutes, but Bruins keeper Chante' Sandiford was there both times.
"UCLA was so fast and stuff, the coaches - I remember everyone was saying 'If you have a shot on goal, take it,'" senior Lauren Hyde said.
If the Gators were riding high on confidence at the end of the first half, the quickly ended that when Sydney Leroux scored in the 50th minute on a pass through the middle from Kristina Larsen.
"In the first half, I thought we played really well," Hyde said. "We got a few chances, but second half we kind of fell apart after the goal. We're going to get scored on, we just have to learn how to play when we're down a goal."
Larsen widened the gap with a goal of her own, which was initially deflected by the Gators defense.
Despite trailing 2-0, UF couldn't get much of an offensive attack as UCLA never took its foot off the gas.
Bruins senior Kara Lang knocked in the back-breaking third goal on a free kick that ricocheted off the cross bar and landed behind the goal line.
"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.
