Florida soccer entered its final four regular-season matches two spots above the SEC tournament threshold with eight points. A 1-0 upset win against then-No. 5 Alabama provided momentum heading into the back stretch.
The Gators (6-6-3, 2-4-2 SEC) couldn’t earn a point against two of the SEC’s top teams on the road. Florida suffered back-to-back losses to then-No. 2 Vanderbilt (14-0-1, 7-0-1) last Thursday and to 2025 regular-season champion Arkansas (6-4-4, 4-1-3) on Sunday.
Florida sits 11th in the SEC standings with eight points, just inside the 12-team SEC Tournament field with two regular-season matches remaining. The tournament runs Nov. 8-15 in Pensacola, with the top four seeds earning first-round byes. Florida finished 11th last season before losing to sixth-seeded Kentucky. Its last tournament win came in 2021 against Vanderbilt.
If Florida secures a tournament berth and wins its first-round game, the Gators would face one of the tournament’s top four seeds in the quarterfinals. That group includes Vanderbilt (22 points), South Carolina and Alabama (18 each), and either Oklahoma or Arkansas, tied at 15. Vanderbilt and South Carolina have already beaten Florida this season.
Both losses stung UF, just in different ways.
At Vanderbilt, the game got away in a hurry. The Commodores had two goals wiped out for fouls, then scored three in under six minutes before halftime. Florida never recovered, finishing with a season-low seven shots and only two on goal in the second half.
On Sunday at Arkansas, Florida had a point in sight until the final seconds. Ten days earlier, Lena Bailey had beaten then-No. 5 Alabama with 93 seconds to play. This time, the Gators were on the wrong end of a late goal when Arkansas freshman MacKenzie Gwin took a flicked pass near midfield, outran the defense for about 40 yards and scored with six seconds left.
Florida fell from 10th to 11th in the SEC standings. Around the conference, LSU (4-9-3, 2-4-2) recovered from a 2-1 deficit at halftime and defeated Texas A&M 4-3 on Sunday. The win put the Tigers level with the Gators on points. Tennessee (6-4-4, 1-4-3) captured a point against Kentucky on Sunday, placing it just outside the cusp at six points.
The Gators face a difficult path to secure the tournament berth, starting Thursday against No. 25 Auburn. The Tigers boast a 4-2-2 record in the SEC and have allowed the second-fewest goals (three, tied with Vanderbilt) in conference play. Alabama, Arkansas and Kentucky are the only three teams to net a goal against Auburn in the SEC.
Auburn, sitting comfortably in sixth place with 14 points, defeated back-to-back ranked opponents this season (then-No. 13 Tennessee and then-No. 20 Oklahoma). A loss to Auburn could leave Florida needing a result against Georgia to secure its tournament berth. A win would give the Gators a crucial boost entering the finale.
Florida hosts Georgia on Nov. 1, the day after their football counterparts battle it out in Atlanta, to cap the regular season. Florida can end its eight-match winless streak against Georgia, which dates to 2018.
Georgia posted an erratic SEC resume through eight conference games to compile a 3-2-3 record. The Bulldogs hung around with Vanderbilt for a 1-1 draw earlier in the season, but were shutout by Alabama 3-0 Thursday. Georgia’s ticket to Pensacola would be secured with a win, and it can be the reason the Gators don’t secure theirs.
Florida’s path to Ashton Brosnaham Soccer Complex in Pensacola starts at 7 p.m. Thursday against Auburn at the Diz. Coverage begins at 6:45 p.m. on 850-AM WRUF and at 7 p.m. on the SEC Network.
