ChompTalk.com

With last Sunday being the sixth match during SEC play, the Gators have seen many ups and downs throughout the season. Fortunately, there are a lot more ups than downs and the future of Gator’s soccer  is looking more prosperous as the program itself is growing in a positive direction.

It’s obvious that the Gators aren’t the owners of a winning record this year, so far. The Gators are currently 1-3-2 in SEC play and 4-4-6 overall on the season. Two of the four losses came from top 10 opponents, Florida State and Auburn. The other two came from SEC matchups, Missouri and 23rd ranked South Carolina.

All four of these losses were a lot closer than the scoreline entailed. Five of the eight goals scored in their losses came in the second half, and three of those five were impactful scores in the last 15 minutes of the game. There hasn’t been a game this season where the Gators didn’t have a chance to win, but the ball sometimes goes the other way and you concede when you can’t afford to.

It’s easy to say that the Gators need to score more goals, but that will come alongside other successes that the Gators have dialed in this season.

The Gators are always competitive and tend to control the game, possession wise, for the majority of the game. Coach, Samantha Bohon, sets up her team up to create those opportunities from that possessive play style. If you have the ball, you can score. Florida doesn’t have a possession issue at all and that is  something to highlight about this program. With this possession, you do get opportunities to score, but that will be talked about later on.

Another success that I have seen this season is the programs ability to adapt to new and changing tactics. Bohon said earlier in the season that she loves to be tactically prepared and be able to switch things up during the game if needed. This allows Florida to change the style of play and become more threatening on both sides of the ball after seeing the formation and play style of their opponent. Imagine it like it’s a quarterback calling an audible at the line of scrimmage after noticing the defense in a blitzing formation. The Gators are tactically capable to beat their opponent as well as physically. They have a whole other dimension of play unlocked because of the great work Bohon and her coaches do on and off the field.

The biggest struggle of this season has been scoring goals. The Gators only have two goals in SEC play and you can’t win a game if you don’t score. The Gators got opportunities and chances to score early in multiple games, but the moves are usually ended by a string of too many passes in the box. As a possessive team, the Gators rely on strings of passes and intricate passages of play to find the back of the net. Sometimes, this can be more of a hindrance as too many passes can ruin a movement.

There has been many opportunities stopped by a pass that didn’t work in the final third or a pass that was made when a shot could’ve found the net. Florida is getting the chances, but they aren’t making those clinical decisions in those vital moments and it has clearly affected the goal scoring performance of the season.

I want to see Florida be more clinical in the last four SEC games. I would like to see a goal in each of the last four games, specifically in the first half. Florida plays well when opening the scoring. They have a record of 4-0-1 when scoring first in the first half. The Gators are two goals away from having a much different record if they score in both 0-0 draws against Georgia and Kentucky; games where they had multiple chances to score but couldn’t. Instead of a record at 1-3-2, the Gators could be at .500 at a 3-3 record in the SEC if certain chances were capitalized on.

Ultimately, the Gators are better than what their record entails. This team is tough to break down and they can punish any team if they stay off their toes. Every game is close and has had clinical moments where a few inches in a certain direction is the difference between winning, drawing, or losing.

Despite the goal troubles, this has been a great season for the Gators. There has been incredible improvements in all aspects of the game since the beginning of the season. The defense has looked solid and composed, the midfield has been dominant, and attacking threat has been there. The Gators just need to add that cherry on top with goals and they will be a force in the SEC.

This program has an incredible future and Gator fans should be very excited for the product that Bohon will put out in the upcoming years. There is plenty of young talent that will take this program to the next level in the next five years and Bohon’s system is becoming a well-oiled machine. There’s a fire in this team that’s going to grow and I’m excited to see the successes in the future.