By nature, Havana Solaun is a calm person.
So when senior and fellow midfielder Erika Tymrak suffered a left ankle sprain in Friday’s match against Tennessee, Solaun kept it together.
“When you lose a player like Tymrak,” Solaun said, “everyone kind of has to … step up their own game to balance out the loss.”
Solaun, a sophomore, rose to the occasion for Florida in two games this weekend, notching a goal and an assist.
She is the Gators’ current leader in points with nine (three goals and three assists).
“She’s such a composed player,” Tymrak said. “When they have a bunker and they have nine players sitting behind the ball, she’s the type that’s not going to freak out. She’s going to pick her spot, hit it low.”
Coach Becky Burleigh added: “Havana is one of those players who can cerebrally help break down a team like that. She’s patient. She’s not panicky.”
Solaun scored her third goal of the season in Florida’s 4-1 rout of Georgia on Sunday. During a scuffle for the ball in the box, junior Maggie Rodgers retrieved it, turned around and fed Solaun the ball.
Solaun buried the ball into the far corner of the net in the 65th minute to give UF a 2-0 lead.
On Friday against the Volunteers, Solaun edged down the right flank and sent a wide cross to redshirt senior McKenzie Barney for a tap-in, giving the Gators a 2-0 lead in the 53rd minute.
“It’s big,” Solaun said. “We’ve kind of really been stressing finishing off games. This weekend, we did a good job of putting the ball in the back of the net.”
Last year, Solaun took on the role of super sub, starting in only four of her 21 games played. She finished as Florida’s fourth-leading scorer with 18 points on six goals and six assists.
This season, Solaun has started nine of 10 games in the attacking midfield.
She averages 73.1 minutes per game — 26 more than she did last year.
Solaun’s skill advancing the attack with her fast-break runs has given the team a boost this year, Burleigh said.
“The reason that Havana has been so dangerous is because she works really hard to get beyond the ball when we’re bringing the ball up,” Burleigh said.
“She’s doing an excellent job at that, and again, (that’s) not something you can necessarily put in a stat book.”
Solaun’s ability to feed the ball to others has been a major factor in her success.
Her field vision is terrific, Burleigh said.
“If I was defending her, I’d have to choose,” Burleigh said. “Do I step up and play her tight so that she doesn’t score by herself, or do I give her a little space? But if I do that, then maybe she’s going to get somebody else in.
“There’s kind of a pick your poison with her.”
Injured Gators: Burleigh said Tymrak is day-to-day with a left ankle sprain suffered in Friday’s win against Tennessee.
“Her ankle is getting better,” Burleigh said. “But obviously, until you actually test it and see what it’s like, we won’t know where she is.”
Tymrak, an All-American, said her injury isn’t severe.
“I’m just trying to get as much treatment as I can,” she said. “I can walk on it.”
Barney left Sunday’s game with an undisclosed injury in the 86th minute after the Bulldogs scored their first goal. Burleigh said Monday the team would evaluate Barney’s status later in the day.
Redshirt senior Kat Williamson is also day-to-day, Burleigh said.
Williamson, an All-American center back, has been rehabbing her right knee since suffering a meniscus tear against FIU on Sept. 2.
She has missed five games since sustaining the injury.
Gutsche Returns: After suffering a concussion in practice nearly two weeks ago when a ball bounced off the crossbar and hit her head, sophomore midfielder Karina Gutsche played the final 16 minutes against Georgia.
Gutsche started in two matches this season before missing four straight games preceding Sunday.
Havana Solaun (19) moves past Tennessee midfielder Alison Clarke (11) at James G. Pressly Stadium.
