UF alumna Lorin Maurer was one of 49 who died aboard Continental Connection Flight 3407 when it crashed into a home near Buffalo, N.Y., Thursday night.
A man inside the home was also killed and his wife and child were injured, according to news reports.
Officials said "significant icing" of the plane's windshield and wings could have played a part in the crash.
Maurer earned a master's degree in sports management from UF in 2002, according to the Daily Princetonian. She attended Rowan University in 2001 earning a degree in health and exercise science.
At the time of her death, she was a fundraiser for the athletics department at Princeton University. She was flying to Buffalo for her boyfriend's brother's wedding.
Friends described her as an outgoing sports nut and a huge Gators fan.
She attended the last two UF basketball championships and was in Miami in January when UF beat Oklahoma for the BCS National Championship, according to friends.
She would also watch the Gators play on TV whenever she could, said Robert Allen, her roommate and co-worker at Princeton.
Allen, who graduated from UF in 1997 with a degree in economics, said Maurer was very athletic.
"She ran every morning-in the ice, in the snow-you name it, she would always get out there and run," he said. "She was very disciplined."
Bobby Darnell, who met her in 2003 when they were in the same NCAA internship program, said Maurer made friends with everyone.
"It was like she never met a stranger," he said. "We would go all kinds of different places and she would just be like, 'Hey, how ya doin', I'm Lorin Maurer,' and, you know, it would be on from then," he said.
He said friends would get together every week at her house and watch "The O.C." on FOX and "Playmakers" on ESPN.
"It was pretty sad," he said. "But we loved those shows at that time."
He said Maurer, who interned with the University Athletic Association at UF, introduced him to UF's Athletic Director Jeremy Foley and Defensive Coordinator Charlie Strong at a football game in 2003.
"It was just cool to meet those people and just see what they thought about Lorin and how much, you know, respect and admiration they had for (her)," he said.
