GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Season No. 30 opens for Florida soccer this Friday with a home match versus Western Carolina.
Friday, Aug. 16 vs Western Carolina
Site: Donald R. Dizney Stadium<https://floridagators.com/sports/2020/4/4/donald-r-dizney-stadium.aspx>
Time: 7 p.m. ET
Streaming Video: SEC Network +<https://www.espn.com/watch/player/_/id/16dd8031-56c0-4a82-a37c-25b5890d49d3> Announcers: Kyle Crooks & Matthew Stubbington
Radio: ESPN 98.1 FM / 850 AM WRUF<https://www.wruf.com/listen-live/> Announcers: Ryan Urquhart & Sky Lebron
Stats: FloridaGators.com<https://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=532020>
Promotions: Gatorade truck by Dizney Stadium main gate is source for magnets/shakers/mini-Gatorade
Admission is free for all Gator soccer regular-season home matches.
Florida is 20-6-3 in season openers, including a 23-3-3 record when opening at home.
Is It Time to Compete Already?
It was a compressed off-season for Gator fans. It will be just 58 days since Florida Athletics’ 2023-24 season closed with Gator baseball playing in the NCAA College World Series semifinals.
About the 2024 Gators:
* Florida’s roster runs 33 deep as this is the 16th time the Gators’ roster had 30 or more players. The 24 returners includes eight with 14 or more starts in last season’s 17-match schedule. Nine newcomers comprising of five freshmen and four transfers join the team. 2024 Gator Roster<https://floridagators.com/sports/womens-soccer/roster>
Florida was 6-5-6 in 2023. Florida’s top two goal scorers are back in 2024, albeit 2023 SEC freshman goals leader/SEC Freshman of the Year Megan Hinnenkamp (8) starts the season sidelined due to an injury suffered this summer. Fellow sophomore Lena Bailey turned in four goals last season, including a team-high three game-winners. All-SEC first team defender Daviana Vaka led all Gators in minutes in 2023. Super Senior goalkeeper Alexa Goldberg turned in a career-low season GAA of 0.91 in 2023.
* Florida preparations for 2024 season included two exhibition earlier this month – 2-1 win versus USF and 0-0 tie at Georgia Southern.
* International play was part of spring action for a trio of Gators.
* Junior Njeri Butts (Jamaica) played in a pair of international friendly matches versus Chile.
* Sophomore Paloma Peña (Dominican Republic) played every minute in goal for the four matches in the inaugural CONCACAF Women’s Gold Cup.
* Super Senior Daviana Vaka played with Tonga at the Oceania Football Confederation Olympic qualifier.
About Western Carolina:
Western Carolina was 13-5-3 overall and won the Southern Conference regular-season title with a 7-2 record. The Catamounts advanced to the NCAA Tournament after winning the SoCon Tournament title with a 1-0 win over Samford. WCU lost 2-0 to Alabama in NCAA first-round action. The 2024 SoCon Preseason Coaches poll picks WCU to repeat as conference champs.
2023 SoCon Coach of the Year Chad Miller is in his 14th season leading the Catamounts. 2023 SoCon Player of the Year junior Isabella DeMarco led the Catamounts last season with 10 goals. Right behind her in 2023 goals was fellow All-SoCon first teamer senior Naya Marcil, who turned in nine goals. Back in goal this season is junior Leanne Trudel, who earned All-SoCon second team honors and played all but 132 minutes of 2023 season. She turned in a goals-against-average of 0.875.
Other returning 2023 All-SoCon selections for the Catamounts include graduate defender Becca Campbell plus sophomore midfielders Sofia Goclowski and Emma Soucy.
WCU added 10 newcomers for 2024 – eight freshmen and two transfers.
