With Miami freshmen exiting orientation and entering the home crowd stands in Coral Gables, Fla., on Friday, Florida called on a pair of its own underclassmen off the bench to make an impact during the season opener.
Following a late first half goal by 2010 Southeastern Conference Freshman of the Year Taylor Travis, freshman midfielder Havana Solaun sealed the No. 9 Gators’ (1-0) decisive 2-0 victory over the Hurricanes (0-1) with a booming 51st minute long shot.
“We have a lot of parity on this team as far as talent,” UF coach Becky Burleigh said. “But unfortunately, we can only start 11 people at one time. …We knew when we subbed that we were going to be putting on players that were just as capable.”
The two scorers were Florida’s first subs after a hectic opening 23 minutes to the game. Travis, however, would immediately make her presence known with a shot attempt clanking of the crossbar just 29 seconds into her shift.
As the scorer of last year’s overtime winner against Miami, the sophomore would again draw the clinching goal with a strike eight minutes before halftime fueled by one of junior midfielder Erika Tymrak’s two assists.
“We calmed down, got into a rhythm and played 1-2 touch for the most part,” Tymrak said. “And when we got opportunities, we finished them, so it was awesome.”
Following Solaun’s top shelf scorcher to open the second half, the Hurricanes finally put some pressure on the Gators through a 6-1 advantage in corner kicks, leading to four shots on goal in a span of six minutes.
Burleigh said the bulk of Miami’s set pieces resulted from a lack of discipline by her back line and bad fouls, but senior goalie Brooke Chancey – making just her second career start – did a good job in cleaning up the services to preserve the shutout.
“We need to play with composure right from the beginning and all the way through the match,” Burleigh said. “But that’s a little bit expected with opening game jitters and some freshmen in the lineup.”
The Gators will close their weekend road trip to south Florida with a match Sunday against FIU at 7 p.m.
