UFGATOR-Florida is still doing great---I feel they will have a good year. My daughter had a chance to play with Becky and there were several times she regretted not making that choice. She knows how to coach and she must have good rapport with the players. I have decided to broaden my base of schools to support and Florida and Georgia are 2 of those I chose. Florida has been easy--poor Georgia on the other hand has given me fits. I don't know what is going on but they are a lot better (at least on paper) than that record. Fortunately they pulled off a good win!!!!! Mactisha--Keep the board updated on the Mississippi schools. There don't seem too be many SEC fans here.
Georgia will be fine, I think the win yesterday vs. Michigan is just what they needed to get back on track. It's def. been a tough start to the season for them, but they'll be fine, and they will challenge Florida and Tennessee in the East. As for Becky, she's a great coach but an even nicer better person. She's so cool, she's tough as a coach, but in a way that people like and she's young, so she has a lot in common with her players. I have no doubt that they'll be fine this year, they are young and will experience some growing pains, as they have already, but come tournament time they'll be much better. That loss yesterday still irks me though, the refs really screwed em over. Oh well, gotta forget about that and look forward to a difficult weekend in California against Santa Clara and Stanford. Gators might be under .500 when they return and fall out of the rankings, but again, that experience will help them down the road.
Gators and Santa Clara end in a 2-2 tie. This game looked to be a shootout in the first 5 minutes, but then turned defensive. SCU got on the board first in the 3rd minute on a beautiful long ball from Aly Wagner to Kalakadenas(sp?) who raced past all the UF defenders and beat Kellgren on a blast to the lower right. Just 2 minutes later, UF tied things up as Robin Fulton streaked down the right side and sent a ball back into Dee Floyd just inside the box, she ripped one to the upper left 90 beating the gk on a beautiful goal. SCU struck back just a few minutes later after a UF giveaway gave the ball right to Wagner, who fired a low bouncer that Kellgren should have handled, but it fooled her and found the back of the net. That's how the score stayed until the half. In the 2nd half, SCU totally controlled the flow of play and had quite a few chances to put the game away, but credit the Gator D and Kellgren for keeping them off the board. Finally, I don't know what minute, Kara Rao sent a beautiful pass to Robin Fulton streaking down the right flank and she beat her defender and got off a rocket shot that the gk deflected, right to the waiting foot of Crystal Frimpong for the tying goal. Florida's D played well, their offense was not all that effective, but they did counter very nicely when they had their chances. SCU controlled the ball and the flow of play for much of this match, Wagner and Co. are very good at passing and controlling and they kept the Gators off balance for much of the night, but they were just unable to finish their chances. Each team had a great chance to score in OT, but both headers went high over the crossbar. Great game, both teams looked a little nervous to start, but once they settled down, it was good soccer. Gators still have a lot of work to do on both ends, but I think they come away feeling good about the result. I wish I would have gone to Stanford for the weekend, I had planned to, but oh well, at least I got to see it on tv. Go Gators!
Becky said she has voted Stanford #1 in the polls all season long. She is a smart woman, they prob. are the best team right now, yes UNC fans, even better than your team. Stanford is dominant. My audio cut out with 10 minutes left, but Stanford was leading Florida 4-0, outshooting them 18-2. They have dominated every team they've played this year and when they play UNC in a few weeks, that should be a great matchup. Florida is a good team, just goes to show how much better Stanford is. Without Kellgren, it could have easily been 7 or 8 nothing. She continues to play well this year, thankfully, we need that.
I thought this was going to be televised. I was looking for Heather ..... [sigh] ..... Wow Becky's a Cardinal fan. Yep Gator fans, this one should have been at least 6-0, or 9-0. Kellgren stopped some amazing shots. The only shots she was unable to stop were those that were not humanly possible to stop. Details on the Stanford thread . The Gators victimized themselves by turning the ball over in their attacking third. The speed of Fulton, etc. were negated by the fast defenders. Stanford's fastest players are actually the outside backs, UF found out the hard way. Unlike Santa Clara, Stanford defenders actually defend and even Robin Fulton can't outsprint them. The Gators couldn't even play direct because Stanford were pressuring in midfield. Fulton or Floyd couldn't release themselves from the outside backs, & the ball-carriers would be swarmed by the mids. Florida would get over the center stripe, then Stanford would destroy the attack. On the few occasions UF got to their attacking third, Stanford's backs would poke the ball off them. Momentum stalls, the numbers come back, then Stanford win the balls. As I previously mentioned in the Santa Clara thread, Fulton is gold. She's fast and knows when to release herself. Once Florida develop good distribution and holding skills starting at the back, Fulton will be unstoppable. Find a defense for Kellgren, and Florida will go far.