Florida Soccer Wins 2-0 at Georgia State

ATLANTA, Ga. – A goal in each half gave Florida soccer a 2-0 win over Georgia State Thursday evening at the Georgia State Soccer Complex.

It is the eighth time – and second consecutive – UF has opened a season unbeaten through the opening four matches. The last before the 2023 season came in 2017.

Lightning in the Atlanta area forced the teams from the field with 8:30 remaining in the match. Play resumed after 30 minutes.

Thursday’s Scoring:
Florida dominated opening half possession and was rewarded in the 28th minute with a goal off a Lena Bailey and Njeri Butts connection. Butts brought the ball down the left side before sending a cross that caught Bailey’s sliding right foot for the score.

Freshman Vera Blom hit a 25-yard strike for her second goal of the season in the 65th minute. Graduate Daviana Vaka headed across midfield and found Blom moving above the box. Blom turned and took a touch before sending a right-footed curler that found the far post upper corner.

Notables:

* Tonight’s opening goal was Lena Bailey’s first of the season and the fifth of the sophomore’s career. Four of her five goals – including tonight’s – are game-winning goals.
* Njeri Butts earned her second assist of the season for a season career high. Thursday’s match in Atlanta is less than an hour’s drive from Butts’ hometown in Lawrenceville, Ga.
* It’s goal No. 2 for freshman Vera Blom for her Gator career and this week as she also scored Florida’s opening goal Sunday in the 2-2 tie versus UCF.
* Center back Daviana Vaka has registered an assist in each of the last three seasons – 2022 at BYU, 2023 and 2024 at Florida.
* Florida almost doubled its season match high with 11 corner kicks Thursday.

What the Gators Said:
On this evening’s result:

“One of the things we’re most happy about is being unbeaten in four straight games. Think we did that last year also so you can see the commitment to team defense, so we are really pleased with that. Now we are just trying to get some of those ties to wins but anytime there is a clean sheet, we’ll be in the mix so excited about that.

“Tonight there were some highs and lows. We had some really good of moments and then we slacked off a little bit. My favorite part was that final eight and a half minutes after the weather delay. Thought we were really sharp, imposed our will on them a little bit more. There were some really good opportunities tonight. Class finish again by Vera [Blom], she’s kind of coming into form.

“Really excited about getting the result and clean sheet and then we move forward to a really talented Towson team on Sunday.” – Florida Head Coach Samantha Bohon

Records:
Florida: 2-0-2, 0-0-0 SEC
Georgia State: 0-2-1, 0-0-0 Sun Belt

Series Record:
Florida leads 1-0

Next Up:
Florida closes this two-match road trip Sunday at Towson. The defending Colonial Athletic Association champion is 2-2-1 this season. The Tigers won 9-0 at Delaware State Thursday night.

at Towson
Date: Sunday, Sept. 1 in Towson, Md.
Time: Noon ET
Site: Tiger Field<https://towsontigers.com/sports/2020/6/22/tiger-stadium-lower-fields-complex.aspx>
Video: FloSports<https://go.flosports.tv/partner/caa?utm_campaign=caa&utm_medium=partner&utm_source=teams&utm_content=teams&rtid=towson&coverage_id=>
Live Stats<https://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=534043>
Admission: Free

Florida (2-0-2, SEC 0-0) at Georgia State (0-2-1, 0-0 Sun Belt)

Stadium: GSU Soccer Complex (450)

Weather: 90 degrees, winds SSE at 5 mph

Goals by Period

Total

Florida

Georgia State

Scoring Summary:

No.

Time

Team