By Kevin Erpenbeck

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In preparation to face No. 5 Florida, UK women’s soccer head coach Jon Lipsitz made a few lineup changes to combat the Gator’s physical style of play.

With “10 minutes on a board and 10 minutes on a practice field” of preparation with the new lineup, the Cats proved Lipsitz’s decision was the right one with Sunday’s 2-0 win over Florida.

“We knew (Florida) was going to play three defenders, five midfielders, and two forwards if we didn’t play three forwards,” Lipsitz said. “We had to decide if we had the courage to match them and match one shape against the other. We told our players about the decision after the Ole Miss game, and they were excited about it.”

Changes Lipsitz made included starting forward Kelli Hubly at midfielder, moving Katlin Miller from defender to midfielder and having forward Zoe Swift come off the bench instead of starting.

The Cats win over the Gators is even bigger than the 3-0 win Friday over Ole Miss, Lipsitz said, based on the team’s conference status alone.

“We have to recognize that Florida is the standard-bearer of our conference,” Lipsitz said. “Us beating them does not take that away. But what we have to get to the point is that we respect people, but we don’t fear them.”

Florida dominated the possession time in the first 25 minutes and forced UK to defend eight shots compared to the Cats’ one.

But as UK adjusted to the lineup change and picked up offensive chances, Swift notched her fourth goal of the season after receiving a cross from sophomore forward Michaela Dooley.

UK added an insurance goal five minutes into the second half with senior forward Stuart Pope scoring her first goal since her 2013 season-ending ACL and MCL injury.

“When you come back from an injury, you’re always wondering if it’s you that’s not mentally there, or if it’s your knee that’s not physically there,” Pope said. “It just takes a lot of pressure off me getting that first goal off my chest. Hopefully, it flows and comes, and I can play more free.”

The win over the Gators was Lipsitz’s highest ranked win over an opponent, beating out UK’s win over then-No. 10 West Virginia last season.

But no matter how big the victory is now, Lipsitz’s message to the team tomorrow will be “it’s a win.”

“It means three points in the conference standings and a lot of help with our RPI,” Lipsitz said. “But we’ve got four games left in nine days. As soon as it hits 12:01 a.m. tomorrow, it means a win. I’ll let them enjoy it now. But on Monday, it’s three points.”