GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Season No. 29 opens for Florida soccer this week with a pair of home matches. Action begins Thursday evening when East Carolina comes to town for the season opener for both teams. Next, Florida plays host to Maryland on Sunday evening.
Thursday, Aug. 17 vs East Carolina
Time/Site: 7 p.m. at Donald R. Dizney Stadium
Promotions: Women’s World Cup celebration – National team giveaways plus Gators students might want to do some between semester studying on UF alumna World Cup history to claim a World Cup ball.
Sunday, Aug. 20 vs Maryland
Time/Site: 6 p.m. at Donald R. Dizney Stadium
Promotions: Ted Lasso Night – Get a “Believe” card at the gate to accessorize your Ted Lasso apparel for the costume contest. There is a Ted Lasso trivia contest and goldfish snacks for the kids.
Admission is free for all Gator soccer regular-season home matches.
Florida is 19-6-3 in season openers, including a 22-3-3 record when opening at home.
Is It Time to Compete Already?
It was a compressed off-season for Gator fans. It will be just 53 days since Florida Athletics’ 2022-23 season closed with Gator baseball playing in the NCAA College World Series final. That is just one day over the shortest span between two seasons (52 days: 2011) in UF history.
About the 2023 Gators:
* Florida’s roster runs 36 deep, which is the second-largest in the program’s 29-season history. The 18 returners includes six with 11 or more starts in last season’s 17-match schedule. Newcomers make up half of the roster with 12 freshmen and six transfers. 2023 Gator Roster<https://floridagators.com/sports/womens-soccer/roster>
* Four who turned in UF’s season-leading goal totals return in 2023 – seniors Delaney Tauzel (2 goals, 3 assists, 7 points), Julianne Leskauskas (2g, 2a), Tessa Barton (2g, 1a) and junior Madison Young (2g). Senior goalkeeper Alexa Goldberg started 16 matches and made 58 saves.
* Florida preparations for 2023 season included two exhibition last week -1-1 tie versus Georgia Southern and 0-0 tie at North Florida
* The summer of 2023 included international play for a trio of Gators.
* Sophomore Njeri Butts (Jamaica) and freshman Paloma Peña (Dominican Republic) started every match of CONCACAF U20 Championships’ group play
* Ashley Tutas was part of Bermuda’s gold-medal team at the NatWest International Island Games XIS, scoring a goal in each of the final two group-play matches
About Upcoming Opponents:
Like Florida, both teams coming to The Diz for 2023’s season opening matches are led by coaches in their second season with the programs.
* Garry Higgins came to East Carolina for the 2022 season after leading Lenoir-Rhyne for seven seasons. That run included a run to the 2021 NCAA Division II semifinals. In 2022, East Carolina tied for fifth in the American Conference regular-season standing (3-3-2) and were 8-8-3 overall.
* Meghan Ryan Nemzer made the three-hour journey south to return to her home state to take Maryland’s head coaching position for the 2022 season after spending 14 seasons on staff at her alma mater, Rutgers University. The Terrapins tied for 10th at 3-7 in 2022 Big Ten regular-season standings and were 4-8-5 overall.
