Florida Gators notes: Brenton Cox honored, volleyball loses two close matches, soccer falls to FSU

Florida Gators football: Brenton Cox named SEC co-defensive lineman of the week

Brenton Cox was vocal on Twitter following the Florida Gators’ win over Utah, boasting he had ten tackles even though Utah was getting away with holding. The ten tackles (three solos and seven assisted) were enough to earn praise from the SEC and earned Cox week one SEC co-defensive lineman of the week.

As we wrote about in our evaluation of Florida’s defense against Utah, Florida’s front seven had a solid first half before imploding in the second. And while Cox did finish with 10 tackles, he noticeable struggled when Utah utilized read-option in his direction in the second half.

Florida Gators volleyball: Close losses to ranked Stanford and Minnesota

The Gators’ volleyball team came tantalizingly close to picking up a couple of statement wins last week, but fell just short against 12th ranked Stanford and 4th ranked Minnesota.

Against Stanford, Florida dropped the first set 31-29. The Gators had five separate set-point opportunities but couldn’t put the Cardinal away. Florida also dropped a close second set 25-22.

Florida rallied with a convincing 25-16 win in the third set and won set four 25-22 to force a deciding fifth set. It looked like Florida was going to pull out the win in the fifth when Emily Cannan gave the Gators a 5-1 set lead after four straight aces.

Stanford rallied though to win the set 15-10 and the match 3-2.

The Gators had similar frustration against Minnesota. Florida held their own in the first and third sets, but lost both 25-22. The first set was particularly frustration as Florida held a 19-18 lead before Minnesota pulled away.

One bright spot for Florida has been Syracuse transfer Marina Markova. Listed at 6-5, Markova led Florida against Minnesota with 15 kills off a .444 hitting percentage and contributed on three blocks.

The Gators will be hosting the Sunshine Invitational this weekend against Georgia Southern, Florida Gulf Coast, and VCU.

Florida Gators soccer: Victory over USF, lifeless against FSU

Last week we touched on the state of the soccer program and the difficult situation head coach Samantha Bohon has inherited. Soccer picked up a much needed victory against USF last week 2-1.

The Bulls, who were NCAA tournament qualifiers last season, controlled possession for most of the first half but the Gators stayed in a mostly defensive shape and were never really threatened on goal. At half time it was 0-0.

In our review of the program, we had said that junior Julianne Leskauskas needed to see the field more and Bohon seemed to agree against USF. Leskauskas had a great strike from the edge of the 18-yard box to hit the far side netting to put Florida up 1-0.

USF tied it up with less than 20 minutes to play before Leskauskas switched the play to find Syd Kennedy, who also tucked her shot inside the far post to score the game winner.

For all the good vibes Florida had after that game, FSU brought the Gators back the Earth. FSU are the defending national champions and this is not a game that on paper Florida would have been expected to win.

Losing 5-0 to anyone is tough though. The Gators seemed to try and play their normal system rather than take a park-the-bus mentality and FSU just picked apart the midfield as a result.

We could break down all five goals, but the opening goal from FSU is enough. Florida tries to press but get mixed up in who was supposed to press. The Seminoles are able to find a short pass to break the midfield line then one touch out wide. The Gators are still in an okay position at this moment expect no one from the midfield picks up the free runner from FSU. The Seminoles play a simple pass along the ground across the top of the box and FSU finishes.

Florida closes out non-conference play on Sunday at East Carolina.

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