Florida soccer will host the California Bears on Friday in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. The Gators defeated some other Bears when they beat Mercer 3-0 last weekend to advance.
The Gators won a defensive battle that was highlighted with goalie Taylor Burke’s 27th career solo shutout, tying her for the school record. On the offensive side, Annie Speese had a goal in the 19th minute and Savannah Jordan had two goals, one in the 82nd minute then again with 26 seconds left.
When asked about the defensive focus during the game, Gator coach Becky Burleigh said she was pleased.
“Mercer did a great job of trying to disrupt our play, they did a great job of getting numbers behind the ball and I really credit their resilience because I felt like we really kept after them and kept after them, and they did a great job.”
The highly defensive Gator playing style will face a challenge when going up against California who plays an extremely similar game.
“They’re going to want to keep the ball just like we’re going to want to keep the ball.” Burleigh adds, “The battle of wills, I suppose, in that game will be who can sustain possession.”
The 2014 NCAA Tournament is the 18th for the Gators and they play in it for the 12th straight year. Florida has also made it to the second round for the eighth straight time; last year, the Gators lost to Duke in this round.
The Florida senior class has been as far as the third round in the NCAA Tournament, and they are pushing to get further this year. Burleigh says that even though the team is looking forward, they need to focus on the game they’re playing.
“You never know when a challenge for a header is going to lead to a goal scoring opportunity for your team, or maybe a challenge for a header leads to a defensive clear that had you not done turns the game into an offensive opportunity for them,” she said.
The Bears scored 46 goals this regular season, while holding their opponents to 22 goals. Cal also had 308 total shots on goal this season, adding a challenge for Gator goalie Taylor Burke.
The second round of the NCAA tournament will start at 3 P.M. on Friday when Texas Tech and Auburn face off, followed by the match-up between the Gators and the Bears at 7 P.M. The winners from Friday will play again on Sunday at 2 P.M.