For as much as the Florida Gators were in the news off the field in 2012 (check out Sunday’s post), the Gator Nation was making plenty of headlines on it as well. From breathtaking moments, game-changing and game-winning plays to winning championships and setting world records, Florida accomplished some unique athletic feats in 2012. Below are OGGOA‘s Top 12 On the Field Moments of the Year.

12 » MISSED IT BY THAT MUCH
If there was a theme to Gators athletics in the spring it was Florida teams falling short of their goals. In addition to men’s indoor track & field, women’s outdoor track & field and men’s swimming & diving all just coming up just short of winning major titles, basketball, baseball, gymnastics, lacrosse and softball all gave valiant efforts but faced immense disappointment in the end. It all started with the Gators basketball team, which advanced to the Elite Eight for the second-straight year and once again choked away a late lead and failed to advance to the Final Four. Up 11 points with 8:14 left in the game, Florida was outscored 18-3 down the stretch by Louisville, which held on for the 72-68 victory. The Gators hit just 1-of-12 shots over the final 8:14 while also going 1-for-4 from the charity stripe down the stretch and 0-for-9 from downtown over the final 20 minutes. Gymnastics did just about everything it could during the 2012 NCAA Super Six in late April but came just short of earning the first national title in program history, falling 197.850-197.775 to Alabama and losing by 0.075 points. Next up was softball, which looked primed to return to the championship game of the 2012 Women’s College World Series for the third time in the last four years. Instead, Florida got upended 10-1 by eventual national champion Alabama in the finals of the 2012 SEC Tournament and was eliminated in the Gainesville Regional portion of the 2012 NCAA Tournament due in part to suspensions levied against three key players. It was the first time since 2006 that UF did not at least advance to the Super Regional. A controversial finish led to another tough loss for lacrosse (see No. 9), leaving one sport to provide the ultimate disappointment to Gators fans in 2012.

Perhaps most heartbreaking for Gators fans was seeing a baseball team that was the national title favorite from the very start of the season fall fast and finish the campaign without a single title. Cruising along in the SEC Tournament with a one-run lead and three outs to go in the championship game, Florida baseball collapsed against Vanderbilt, allowing its opponents to score five runs on five hits in the top of the ninth and hold on for the title. Junior closer Austin Maddox imploded after coming on to get the final three outs, giving up a lead-off double to right and eventually allowing Vandy to tie the game after a sacrifice bunt, hit batter and suicide squeeze. It only got worse from there. The Commodores accomplished a double steal, hit an infield single, loaded the bases (intentional walk, double steal, intentional walk) and then pulled off a triple steal to score their third run of the inning. A two-run single put the nail in the coffin as the Gators allowed more stolen bases in a single frame (seven) than had ever been given up in an entire SEC Tournament game in the history of the event. With horrible memories of the SEC Tournament behind them and the NCAA Tournament upcoming, Florida hoped to use the experience to improve as a team. The Gators did advance to the College World Series but were swept right out of it with consecutive losses. Florida fell 7-3 to South Carolina in its first game before allowing an unranked Kent State team to register a 5-4 upset victory in the second game. The Gators coughed up four unearned runs, committed two errors and failed to plate runs despite having numerous opportunities to hit with runners in scoring position. With so much talent on the roster and a track record of success – the team got to the championship series just one year earlier – Florida baseball legitimately blew a great national title chance.

[Read: The Silver Lining - "Failure" is not a dirty word]

11 » FLORIDA SWEEPS FSU IN FOOTBALL, BASKETBALL, BASEBALL

For the first time in school history, the Gators swept the Seminoles in football, basketball and baseball (5-0) in a calendar year. Florida State having a historically successful baseball team has stood in the way of Florida’s ability to accomplish this feat in the past, but Gators baseball completed its first regular-season sweep of the Seminoles since 1958 by earning a 9-2 victory in Gainesville, FL, 4-1 victory in Jacksonville, FL and a 6-3 win on the road in Tallahassee, FL. Florida football bounced back from consecutive losses to FSU with a 37-26 beat down in Tallahassee, and UF basketball matched the football team’s intensity with a 72-47 rout on the road.

Continue Reading » Top 12 for 2012: On the Field Moments of the Year

Tags: Abby Wambach, ALC, ALC Championship, ALC Tournament, Austin Maddox, Azania Stewart, baseball, basketball, Brad Weitzel, Caleb Sturgis, Canada, Casey Turgeon, Christian Taylor, College World Series, Dedrick Dukes, Denver Broncos, Elite Eight, Elizabeth Beisel, field, Fightin' Gator Marching Band, FINA, Final Four, Gabi Wiegand, Gainesville Regional, Genevieve LaCaze, Gray Horn, Great Britain, Heather Mitts, Hugh Graham, Jamaica, Jeff Demps, Jonathon Crawford, Kevin O'Sullivan, lacrosse, Lauren Embree, Leonardo Seymore, Lisa Raymond, Melanie Booth, Mike Gillislee, Mike Holloway, Mike Zunino, NCAA, NCAA Championship, NCAA Indoor Championship, NCAA Outdoor Championship, NCAA Tournament, Neiron Ball, NFL, Novlene Williams-Mills, Olympics, Omar Craddock, Playoffs, Ryan Lochte, SEC, SEC Outdoor Championship, SEC Tournament, soccer, softball, swimming, tennis, Tim Tebow, Tony McQuay, track, Will Claye, Will Muschamp, Women's College World Series, World Swimming Championships

The 2012 London Olympics concluded on Sunday with the Florida Gators bringing home 16 event medals including four gold, six silver and six bronze over the course of 19 days worth of action across the pond.

In an effort to highlight the Gators’ praiseworthy accomplishments while simultaneously recapping over two weeks worth of athletic action, OGGOA presents this wrap up of the presence that Florida’s athletes made at the Olympics. Below you will find facts, figures and highlights of what the Gators accomplished from July 25 through Aug. 12.

You can check out the Olympic results as they happened as well as the official Gator Nation vs. The World medal count and plenty of other information by checking out OGGOA’s Live Coverage of the 2012 London Olympics.

FACTS AND FIGURES

» If Gator Nation was its own country, it would have been ranked 17th overall in the final Olympic medal both in weighted and grand total calculations. The Gators won as many gold medals (four) as Jamaica and Czech Republic and captured one more than Spain, Brazil and South Africa (among others).

» Twelve Florida athletes won a grand total of 18 individual medals (16 event medals) for three countries. Fourteen of the 16 medals won were captured for the United States.

» 35.3 percent of the Gators that competed in the Olympics (12-of-34) won at least one medal. 50 percent (17-of-34) at least reached a final or competed for a medal.

» Ryan Lochte (swimming, United States) led the way with five medals including two golds (one shared in a relay with Conor Dwyer), two silvers and a bronze. Following Lochte with two each were Elizabeth Beisel (swimming, United States) and Will Claye (athletics, United States), who both brought home a silver and a bronze.

» Three other Florida athletes won gold including Christian Taylor (athletics, United States), Abby Wambach and Heather Mitts (football, United States). The rest of the medals included a silver each from Tony McQuay and Jeff Demps (athletics, United States) as well as a bronze each from Lisa Raymond (tennis, United States), Melanie Booth (football, Canada) and Novlene Williams-Mills (athletics, Jamaica).

» Beisel is the only current UF student-athlete that medaled in the Olympics. She will be entering her junior year in 2012.

» Seventeen countries were represented by Gators including the United States (11), Great Britain (6), Cayman Islands and Iceland (two each) and Australia, Barbados, Canada, Colombia, Haiti, Hungary, Jamaica, Poland, Puerto Rico, South Africa, Spain and Tunisia (one each). Florida athletes also competed in five sports categories including swimming (19), athletics (10), football (three), basketball and tennis (one each).

Read the rest of “Florida Gators at the 2012 London Olympics” after the break…

Continue Reading » Florida Gators at the 2012 London Olympics

Tags: Abby Wambach, Azania Stewart, Canada, Christian Taylor, Conor Dwyer, Elizabeth Beisel, field, Fightin' Gator Marching Band, Great Britain, Heather Mitts, Jamaica, Jeff Demps, Lisa Raymond, Melanie Booth, Novlene Williams-Mills, Olympics, Ryan Lochte, soccer, swimming, tennis, Tony McQuay, track, USA, USA Swimming, Will Claye, women's basketball

Revenge was a dish best served gold for the U.S. Women’s National Team on Thursday as the Americans defeated the Japanese 2-1 in the Gold Medal Match of the 2012 London Olympics and avenged a penalty kick loss in the 2011 Women’s World Cup.

Through the leadership of veteran striker Abby Wambach and a pair of goals from midfielder Carli Lloyd, the United States nearly led from start-to-finish despite giving Japan multiple chances to get back into the match.

Lloyd’s diving header at 8’, off a perfect cross from forward Alex Morgan, put the Americans on top 1-0. Wambach was also in the area and could just as easily have kicked in the first goal of the match.

U.S. goalkeeper Hope Solo was tested early and often by the Japanese, making a huge stop at 19’ and another at 38’ with the help of the crossbar to allow the United States to take a 1-0 lead into the half.

Lloyd came through again after the break, dribbling through three defenders and striking a ball into the far corner of the net at 56’ to put the Americans on top 2-0.

However, just minutes later, the Japanese cut their deficit in half when Yuki Ogimi grabbed a rebound off of a deflection from Solo and put it into the back of the net at 64’.

The United States held on for the remainder of the match with Solo making another fantastic save to starve off a game-tying goal from Japan in the waining minutes of regulation, giving the Americans their third gold medal in as many Olympics and fourth in the last five games.

The contest between the Americans and Japanese was seen by 80,203 patrons at Wembley Stadium, a record crowd for an Olympic women’s soccer match.

Wambach took home her second career Olympic gold medal, and fellow former Florida Gators soccer star Heather Mitts captured her third despite only seeing action in one game over the course of the Olympics.

Wambach played full time in every match and scored a goal in each of the first five contests. She has increased her scoring total to 143 goals in 188 international matches and is just 16 away from tying Mia Hamm for most all-time.

Joining Wambach and Mitts in celebrating an Olympic soccer medal on Thursday was Canadian reserve Melanie Booth who was added as an injury replacement early in the games and was awarded a bronze when her team defeated France 1-0 on Thursday morning. The United States took down Canada 4-3 in extra time on Monday.

Though Mitts plans to retire from professional soccer, Wambach has promised to return for the 2016 Rio Olympics in hopes of winning her third gold medal.

For a recap of the match with stats, a full schedule (including updated events), live stream links and a Gator Nation vs. The World medal count, be sure to check out OGGOA’s Live Coverage of the 2012 London Olympics.

Photo Credit: Associated Press

Tags: Abby Wambach, Canada, Heather Mitts, Melanie Booth, soccer, USA, USA Soccer, Wembley Stadium, World Cup