Gator Soccer Loses to No. 10 FSU

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Florida lost 5-0 to defending NCAA champion and No. 10 Florida State in front of 1,255 Sunday at the Donald R. Dizney Stadium – a venue record for soccer.

Dark skies welcomed the teams as they arrived Sunday for the Sunshine Showdown presented by Fresh from Florida. The weather moved along but not before delaying the start of the match for 20 minutes.

Sunday’s scoring:
The Seminoles started the scoring early in the opening half.

FSU freshman Olivia Garcia sent the ball across the top of the box for senior Jenna Nighswonger. Her left-footed shot scored from 18 yards at 15:49.

The Seminoles scored quickly to start the second half. Jody Brown drove to the edge of the box before sending the ball to the middle. Garcia met the ball with a swipe of her right foot to score from eight yards in the 48th minute.

Nighswonger brought the ball down the right side after intercepting a pass near midfield. Her leading pass into the box found Jody Brown in stride, who scored in the 57th minute with a right-footed shot to the far corner.

The Seminoles’ fourth goal came off a Gator clearance attempt by freshman Njeri Butts. The ball slipped off her foot, scoring at the near post corner in the 68th minute.

Sunday’s scoring ended in the 87th minute when Emma Bissell’s cross the far post was headed down by Beata Olsson. The ball bounced ahead of the goal line and hit the inside of the crossbar to deflect in.

Records:
Florida: 2-4-0, 0-0-0 SEC
FSU: 2-0-2, 0-0-0 ACC

Series Record:
Florida State leads 15-13

What the Gators Said:
On tonight’s match:

“It wasn’t our night as no matter what formation or what tactic we had, Florida State executed better. I’m bummed with the final score but at the end of the day we have to take what we can from this, move forward and look to ECU.

“Our focus really is on continuing to grow and develop as a program. I don’t know if you could tell but we had several players out today, which is probably a record number of available players that I’ve had I think in my coaching career. So we did the best we could with what we had.

“We need to get healthy, first and foremost, and just kind of regroup a little bit. We don’t have another game until Sunday so the timing couldn’t be better because we’re pretty banged up right now.” Florida Head Coach Samantha Bohon

Next Up:
Florida closes non-conference action Sunday at East Carolina (3-2-1). The Pirates tied Virginia Commonwealth 0-0 Sunday in Richmond, Va.

Sunday, Sept. 11 at East Carolina (3-2-1, 0-0 AAC)
Time/Site: 1 p.m. ET at Johnson Stadium <https://ecupirates.com/facilities/johnson-stadium/10>
Stream: ESPN +<https://www.espn.com/watch/player/_/eventCalendarId/401462108?gameId=648871&sourceLang=en&om-navmethod=espn%3Aglobalsearch%3Aresults>
Radio: ESPN 98.1 FM / 850 AM<https://www.wruf.com/listen-live/> with action called by Nevada Cullen
               Live Stats<http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=411450&vislive=fla>
               Tickets: Free

FSU (2-0-2, 0-0 ACC) at Florida (2-4-0, SEC 0-0-0)

Stadium: Donald R. Dizney Stadium (1255)

Weather: 84 degrees, winds NE 5 mph

Goals by Period

1

2

Total

FSU

1

4

5

Florida

0

0

0

Scoring Summary:

No.

Time

Team

Goal Scorer

Assist

1.

15:49

FSU

Jenna Nighswonger

Olivia Garcia

2.

47:53

FSU

Olivia Garcia

Jody Brown

3.

56:15

FSU

Jody Brown

Jenna Nighswonger

4.

67:10

FSU

Own Goal

5.

FSU

Beata Olsson

Emma Bissell

Shots: FSU 19, Florida 3

Saves: FSU 2 (Mia Justus 2), Florida 3 (Alexa Goldberg 3)

Offsides: FSU 0, UF 1

Cautions: Anna DeLeon-UF 87:05 (yellow)