Gator Soccer’s Journey to 1998 NCAA Title Featured Tonight in SEC Storied: Kick Start

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Florida soccer’s four-year path from program start to NCAA champion is featured in SEC Storied: Kick Start that makes its SEC Network debut tonight at 8 p.m.
 

Several of  Gator soccer’s pioneers viewed the SEC Storied premiere featuring them prior to the Oct. 19 Homecoming football game. Many were in town that weekend for the Gator alumni reunion which was centered around former head coach Becky Burleigh’s induction into the Florida Athletic Hall of Fame.

 

Seeing the team’s story unfold on the screen was moving for those taking in the debut.

 

“It was definitely more emotional than I expected it to be, and probably because we’re sitting here watching it with the people who are in it. It was just really cool to see it all come together,” said Burleigh. “Obviously, we lived it, but just being able to relive it was amazing.”

 

The SEC Storied’s producer Erin Leyden made the trip to Gainesville to share the premiere with those who offered their memories and photos for the Gator soccer story she was familiar with through Leyden’s work on SEC Storied: Abby Head On which debuted in 2013.

 

“We had done a piece on Abby [Wambach] winning a title when she was a freshman. ESPN come back to me and they said, ‘we’re trying to think of more stories about women’s sports teams, so how about that Florida team?’ That was a great story – going from no program to winning the title four years later,” Leyden said. “I was all in. I reached out to Becky (Burleigh) because she seems to be the key piece. Once we had that conversation, I knew there was a story there.”

 

While it seems fitting that an underdog story would be the perfect material for a documentary, the people who lived the experience were surprised by Leyden reaching out to them. However, after giving the interviews and finding the old pictures, they started to see how unique that event was.

 

“It’s so special because of just the way it happened. We all really did take a pretty big risk coming here, being here for the first year of the program. Just seeing how far we came, it’s actually really wonderful,” said Erin Baxter, midfielder and co-captain of the 1998 title team. “When you look back and watch this, it all comes streaming back a little bit. I just think it’s really cool that Becky’s getting all this…