2015 Gator Soccer: A Year In Review

The 2015 Florida Gator soccer team had a fantastic year as they won both the SEC regular season and tournament championships on route to a 19-4-1 (9-2-1 in SEC play) record. In the NCAA Tournament, Florida's season ended in the Sweet 16 with a 2-1 loss to Duke. Despite another disappointing showing in postseason play, this year's Gator team has so much to be proud of. Some of their season accomplishments include:

• A 14th SEC regular season title and 11th SEC tournament title
• A second-straight win over the Florida State Seminoles (with the final score being 3-2)
• Victories over five teams ranked in the final NSCAA Coaches Top 25 polls
• Six shutout wins
• Finishing at #5 in the NSCAA Coaches poll at the end of the season

After highlighting the team's accolades, let's shine the spotlight on the individual Gators who contributed to this success. Here are the award winners:

Individual Awards & Honors

• 2015 First Team All-SEC
• Forward- Savannah Jordan (Junior)
• Defender- Claire Falknor (Senior)
• Defender- Christen Westphal (Senior)
• 2015 Second Team All-SEC
• Midfielder- Meggie Dougherty Howard (Junior)

• 2015 All-Freshman Team
• Midfielder- Mayra Pelayo (Freshman)

• 2015 SEC Offensive Player of the Year
• Forward- Savannah Jordan

• 2015 SEC Defensive Player of the Year
• Defender- Christen Westphal

Now, let's look at the stat leaders for the Orange and Blue:

Goals: Savannah Jordan (24)

Assists: Christen Westphal (12)

Points: Savannah Jordan (55)

Shots: Savannah Jordan (116)

Game Winners: Savannah Jordan (4)

Penalty Kicks Made: Pamela Begic (3) (Junior)

Saves: Kaylan Marckese (54) (Freshman)

Shutouts: Kaylan Marckese (5)

Yellow Cards: Savannah Jordan/Liz Slattery (3) (Junior)

Minutes: Claire Falknor (2,166)

Final Season Takeaway:

Four seniors will be departing from the Gator soccer team and taking their place will be seven hungry juniors who have experienced defeat in the Round of 32, the Elite Eight, and now the Sweet 16. With one final season remaining, what will their legacy ultimately be as a class? This was by no means a bad season, but at the same time it can be considered a failure because the team failed to bring the hardware home.

Winning SEC titles are always great, and it is an awesome memory that the graduating seniors will cherish forever. However, this team has way too much firepower returning next year to just settle for conference championships. They already know they are the best team in the SEC, now they just have to go out and prove it to the rest of the country! Regardless, hats off to the Gators for another spectacular soccer season and I cannot wait to root them on in 2016!

*All stats & accolades accredited to floridagators.com, NCAA.com, & SECsports.com