GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Florida soccer (3-3-5, 0-2-1 SEC) opens Southeastern Conference home action Friday versus No. 22 Texas. Match time is 7 p.m. at the Donald R. Dizney Stadium.
Texas is Florida’s fourth opponent ranked in United Soccer Coaches top 25 this season, which leads the league’s 16 programs.
This is the sixth time in the program’s 30 seasons that UF opens SEC home play in October, with the last on Oct. 1, 2010 versus Mississippi State. Florida is 20-6-3 all-time in SEC home openers.
Friday, Texas makes its second trip to The Diz and first as a SEC member:
* Texas returned to the United Soccer Coaches top 25 poll after registering two wins last week – at Mississippi (1-0) and versus Texas A&M (2-0)
* Two Longhorns – seniors All-Americans Trinity Byars and Lexi Missimo – appear on the 2024 Hermann Trophy Watch List. Missimo was a 2023 semifinalist for collegiate soccer’s highest individual honor.
2024 Florida Season Stats<https://floridagators.com/sports/womens-soccer/stats>
No. 22 Texas (9-1-2, 2-1-1 SEC)
Date: Friday, Oct. 4
Time: 7 p.m. ET
Site: Donald R. Dizney Stadium<https://floridagators.com/sports/2020/4/4/donald-r-dizney-stadium.aspx> (1,500) – gates open at 6 p.m.
Stream: SEC Network +<https://www.espn.com/watch/player/_/id/11ccedda-2876-4179-b506-f96dd5bab5a1> with Kyle Crooks and Matthew Stubbington calling the action
Radio: ESPN Gainesville 98.1 FM/850 AM<https://www.wruf.com/listen-live/> with Ryan Urquhart and Nevada Cullen calling the action
StatBroadcast<https://floridagators.com/watch/?Live=5469>
Admission: Free
Promotions: Gainesville Youth teams are invited to the Diz to enjoy face painters, balloon artists, games and more pre match! The first 250 fans receive a Gator Rally Towel.
Florida in SEC Opening Weekend
The Gators lost 2-0 at Missouri on Sunday. Florida’s Sept. 29 home match versus Tennessee was postponed due to the approach of Hurricane Helene.
Despite outshooting the Tigers 20-7, the Gators couldn’t get the ball past MU goalkeeper Kate Phillips, who registered nine saves Sunday. The Tigers made the most of their early set play opportunities as both goals in the opening eight minutes started with corner kicks. Olivia Chianelli touched in the at the post for the Tigers first goal in the sixth minute. MU was awarded a penalty kick off a foul in play after their second corner kick and Kylee Simmons successfully converted it for the final goal of the match.
The Gators did have some good opportunities to score. In the 17th minute, Lauren McCloskey sent the ball ahead to just wide of the MU box. Lena Bailey won the ball from two defenders, but hit the near post with her 10 yard shot.
UF goalkeeper Jayden Emmanuel, who played the second half, blasted the ball into the Missouri half with 20 minutes remaining. Sophie White ran it down but her shot in the box was high. In the final four minutes, Vera Blom sent the ball from the end line to the top of the box where Skye Barnes touched it forward for Bailey. She took a short shot as tumbling to the ground. The play was video reviewed but no foul was awarded.
Florida was without two Super Seniors Sunday. Delaney Tauzel is still out after she was injured in the Sept. 19 match at then No. 20 Kentucky. All-SEC first-team selection Daviana Vaka remains sidelined after she was injured early in the second half of the Sept. 22 match at then No. 6 Auburn.
About Texas Longhorns:
Texas joined the Southeastern Conference this season after turning in a 17-5-2 record and taking fourth at 6-3-1 in its final season of Big 12 action. UT won its Big 12 Tournament finale with a 3-1 win over BYU to earn a NCAA Tournament automatic bid. The Longhorns’ 2023 NCAA Tournament run ended in the third round with a 5-0 loss at eventual NCAA champion Florida State.
Senior All-American Lexi Missimo leads the Longhorns in 2024 in all offensive categories with seven goals, six assists and 20 points. Senior Trinity Byars earned United Soccer Coaches All-America honors the last two seasons, with Missimo joining her on the 2023 list. Byars’ five goals is second among the 2024 Longhorns but she hasn’t appeared in a match since Sept. 1. Senior Mia Justus is the reigning SEC Defensive Player of the Week. She has started each match and is No. 36 in the nation with a goals-against-average of 0.618. Amalia Villarreal is the current SEC Freshman of the Week after scoring the game winner and registering an assist in the Sept. 29 2-0 win versus Texas A&M. Texas returned to the United Soccer Coaches poll this week at the No. 22 position.
Angela Kelly is in her 13th season at Texas and is a year beyond the number of seasons she coached at another UT – Tennessee. Florida’s Samantha Bohon started her coaching career as a Tennessee Assistant Coach under now Texas coach Angela Kelly for the 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 seasons. The Lady Vols won their three Southeastern Conference regular-season titles in 2003, 2004 and 2005. Tennessee also won its first two SEC Tournament titles with overtime wins over Florida in 2002 (2-1 2OT) and 2003 (1-1 2OT 7-6 PK).
