The
No. 21 University of Florida soccer team (0-1, 0-0 SEC) lost 4-1 to Miami (1-0,
0-0 ACC) Friday evening in front of 1,243 at the James G. Pressly Stadium. It
was the second home opener loss in the 18-year history of the Gator soccer
program, with the first coming by UCF in 2008.
The
win is the second for the Hurricanes in the six-match series between the two
teams. The first also came at Pressly Stadium, when UM took a 1-0 win on Sept.
9, 2001.
The
Hurricanes, who are receiving votes on the preseason NSCAA poll, jumped on the
Gators with a 3-0 halftime lead. The first and third goals came off of corner
kicks. Paige Lombard headed in the Hurricanes’ first goal of 2012 at 11:29 off
the corner kick from Ali Brennan. The Hurricanes scored another set piece goal
in the 31st minute. Brennan took a shot off the corner kick which
was stopped by UF goalkeeper Taylor Burke, but Tina Romagnuolo was there to put
in the rebound from short range.
Miami’s
leading scorer from a year ago, Kate Howarth, hit the Hurricanes’ second goal
at 16:32. Ashley Finn tapped the ball forward to find Howarth open at the
six-yard box corner and she scored at the far post.
Florida broke through with a
goal in the 57th minute. Senior All-American Erika Tymrak found
freshman Claire Falknor with space on the left side of the box. Falknor
calmly placed the ball in the far post corner for her first Gator goal.
Falknor, who had a similar
opportunity just earlier in the match, made good on this chance. But the glow
of her first collegiate goal was greatly dimmed by the final outcome.
“She played a good ball in.
All I had to do was just put it in,” Falknor said. “It felt good but it wasn’t
satisfying. We lost by a big amount.”
Florida’s goal came in a
stretch where the Gators had the ball moving well, but when Miami’s Jesse Shugg
put in a rebound in the 67th minute, that pushed the margin to the
extremely-hard-to-overcome category.
“There was about a 15-minute
stretch where the team had it really rolling. They got the goal, but Miami’s
fourth goal was the back breaker,” UF Head Coach Becky Burleigh said.
“It just had to do with mentality. What was the difference a minute before
that goal and a minute after that goal? It was just all mentality. We just
need a stronger mentality.”
Sophomore Annie Speese
echoed Burleigh’s comments.
“We need to work on our
mentality. That is something we’ve been stressing during all preseason and
since last season,” Speese said. “We didn’t win 50-50 balls and we let them
beat us on set pieces. So that is what we are going to focus on this week.”
Burleigh gave credit to the
Hurricanes for their set-piece success.
“Miami did an excellent job
of taking care of set pieces,” Burleigh said. “We obviously didn’t do a good
job handling the set pieces. Miami’s execution was perfect where our execution
was very poor. Obviously that was the margin of victory for Miami.
“It’s a very disappointing
way for the team to start, but it exposed weaknesses that are fixable for us.
I would rather have them exposed now than later into the season.”
