Weathering Drought: Gators Soccer Works to Reclaim SEC Dominance

Hired in 2022, Florida Gators soccer coach Samantha Bohon took over a team that had 17 players either quit or transfer after the 2021 season due to a major fallout resulting from the previous coach’s abusive actions. 

The Gators have been in a rebuild ever since. In her first season, Florida went 0-9-1 in SEC play. Florida went 2-4-4 in SEC play and finished with a positive record at home (4-2-2) and showed improvement during the 2023 season. 

However, challengers arose during the 2024 season. UF only managed to win only one SEC game, finishing with a 1-7-2 conference record. 

The 2025 season has been filled with ups and downs. In the first regular season game, UF lost 5-0 to No. 3 Florida State. But the Gators have bounced back seven games into the season, already surpassing the number of goals scored (15) and tying the amount of wins from last season with a 4-3-0 record. 

Florida begins SEC play Thursday at Donald R. Dizney stadium against the Arkansas Razorbacks (2-2-2), and the program is in win-now mode, something Bohon echoed during the preseason. 

“You have to take it one game at a time,” she said. “That’s our motto for this year: focus on now. What do we need to do now.” 

The Gators last tasted success in 2015 and 2016, when they won back-to-back SEC championships. The 2015 season concluded with a 15-3-1 record, including a win over No. 1 Florida State.

In the SEC Tournament, after defeating Vanderbilt and Auburn following a first-round bye, the Gators played Texas A&M in the championship game in a rematch of their regular-season loss.

Senior defender Christen Westphal scored the game-winning goal off a free-kick from a foul won by junior midfielder Meggie Dougherty-Howard. 

The on-field chemistry of the 2015 Gators started off the field, and for Westphal and Dougherty-Howard specifically, as roommates. Both players see how their connection translated to winning the conference crown.

“We had a good understanding of the way each other played, and our team had a really good understanding of the way we wanted to play,” Dougherty-Howard said. 

Westphall agreed.

“We were able to have such a good bond off the field, that it easily carried over to how we were able to perform on the field, supporting each other and rooting for each other,” she said.  

Westphal, who now plays for the Houston Dash in the NWSL, went on to win MVP of the championship game and the tournament after experiencing the big stage as a freshman on the 2012 Gators championship team.

The 2025 Gators roster added 11 new faces, including six freshmen, before the start of the season. Westphal’s advice to the young squad is all about keeping perspective of a 17-game regular season. 

“As a player you need to back yourself, believe in yourself and just know that there are going to be highs and lows,” Westphal said. 

Division I college soccer can be a major step up for incoming players. Practices start at 8 a.m., with late-night games, followed by film review the next day, and then the process starts all over again. At the same time, athletes are still finding themselves at a school among over 60,000 students and many distractions, sometimes a long way from home.

For example, freshmen Kai Tsakiris and Ava Paolini hail from California. 

“Going from being a big fish in your own pond, to now being with a lot of other big fishes, it is a big difference, but always stay true to who you are as a player,” said Westphal, who signed with NWSL’s Boston Breakers in 2016 before the team dissolved before the start of the 2018 season. 

During the 2016 season, the Gators reached the same championship stage after finishing the regular season with a 13-4-0 record. This time, the Gators took down Missouri and South Carolina en route to a matchup with Arkansas in the SEC championship. 

Dougherty-Howard assisted on the game-winning goal in the 100th minute in overtime to seal the conference title. 

“We had a lot of fight, I think that’s what made that team really special, we really battled for each other,” said Dougherty-Howard, who earned MVP of the SEC tournament and made All-SEC Conference First Team.

The 2016 Gators team had strong leadership, with eight seniors who helped build team chemistry and style of play throughout the years. The current Gators roster only consists of three seniors, but the lack of experienced leadership doesn’t prevent Bohon’s team from capturing the same level of success this season.

“I think when teams are really successful is when everyone takes on their own leadership role and can bring everyone along together and it’s not just the responsibility of three seniors,” Dougherty-Howard said. 

Westphal credited former Florida coach Becky Burleigh, a class of 2024 University of Florida Hall of Famer who coached the Gators for 26 years. 

Burleigh, named the Florida coach in 1995, is no stranger to winning SEC titles, having won 14 total throughout her time at Florida. Overall, Burleigh managed a 431-154-23 record. 

Although Burleigh became the first ever coach for the women’s soccer program, she says Bohon’s job is even harder today.

“It was probably a little easier because we were starting from scratch, I think right now when you have a little bit of negative momentum for whatever reasons, it’s a little harder to overcome that then start from scratch,” Burleigh said. “I think the progress they are making is evident in their recruiting classes, you can see that they are on the right track. 

“I’ve known Sam for a long time, I have so much respect for her and what she’s doing. She is someone who cares about people as a whole.” 

Rebuilding is a process, but the pressure is always on high for a program that is used to winning and the expectations won’t lower ahead of a tough conference schedule. 

The Gators’ first four games of SEC play are against current ranked opponents (No. 9 Arkansas, No. 20 Oklahoma, No. 17 South Carolina and No. 24 Georgia). 

The conference schedule opens Thursday against the Razorbacks at Donald R. Dizney Stadium.

It will be a tough start to SEC play for the Gators, who need to start providing positive results. 

Progress is needed. 

The pressure is on. 

But Westphal’s message is simple. 

“Enjoy the journey… it’s still just soccer,” she said. 

Category: Feature Sports News, Gators Soccer, SEC, Soccer