It seems one SEC soccer title was not enough for 10th-ranked Florida.
Led
by senior and tournament MVP Erika Tymrak, UF claimed its
league-leading 10th SEC Tournament title with a 3-0 win over Auburn in
Sunday's championship final.
The
red-hot Gators (17-4-1, 11-2), who have won 14 of their last 15 matches
and earlier won their league-best 12th SEC regular-season crown,
clinched an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
“The
last two games we started playing some of our best soccer, and that's
what we want to be doing this time of year,” said coach Becky Burleigh,
who was honored as SEC Coach of the Year for the fifth time.
“I
think our team has really been focused on making a statement about
that. Last year, we felt like we had a really good team but didn't get
the results that we wanted in the SEC in particular. This year, winning
the SEC was a really big goal of ours, but they weren't satisfied with
that. They wanted to make a statement going into the tournament, and I
think they did that.”
The
64-team NCAA Tournament field was announced Monday afternoon, and UF is
a No. 2 seed in its regional. The Gators will host Florida Gulf Coast
(14-3-3) in a first-round match Friday at 3 p.m. at Pressly Stadium.
