Frustrated with how her team lost to No. 1 Florida State 1-0 on Friday, sophomore midfielder Havana Solaun vented her aggression against FIU’s backline Sunday night.
Solaun booted her first two goals of 2012 to help No. 22 Florida (2-2-1) cruise by Florida International 3-0 for its first home win of the season.
The multi-goal effort is the second of Solaun’s career. She last found the net twice in a match against Ole Miss on Oct. 14, 2011.
“Getting two goals in a game is always really exciting, but it is really just how well my teammates set me up,” she said.
Against the Seminoles, Solaun had an opportunity to tie the match early in the second half, but an offsides call waved off her goal.
“Havana was really disappointed in Friday night’s chances she had, so I was really happy to see her stick a couple,” coach Becky Burleigh said. “She’s just going to get on a roll, and things are going to start happening. She’s a good finisher.”
Solaun notched her first goal in the 13th minute. Senior midfielder Erika Tymrak fed the ball to sophomore forward Tessa Andujar, who gave Solaun a good look. Solaun then buried the shot in the lower right side of the net from 15 yards out.
In the 27th minute, senior midfielder Jo Dragotta slipped the ball to the center of the box for Tymrak, who sent it to redshirt senior McKenzie Barney for an 8-yard tap in. The goal was Barney’s first of 2012, and Tymrak and Dragotta were both credited with the assist.
Off an assist from senior midfielder Holly King, Solaun tallied the Gators’ third and final goal in the 58th minute.
For the match, the Gators outshot the Panthers 24-8 and had a season-best 10 shots on goal. At the half, Florida had 15 shots – three more than its total against FSU, which was previously its season high.
“I was really, really pleased with everything [Sunday], in terms of our ability to generate goal-scoring chances, our ability to be pretty relentless,” Burleigh said. “Execution and the finishing is something we still have to work out a little bit.”
Sunday’s match was also the home debut for junior forward Adriana Leon, who returned to the team last Wednesday after competing for Canada at the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in Japan. After playing 57 minutes off the bench against FSU, the jet-lagged and sore Leon logged 63 on Sunday.
“It’s nice having a Sunday game, a quick turnaround, to kind of fix what we did wrong,” Solaun said. “We did find the back of the net, not as much as we wanted to, but we did what we needed to do.”
The Gators now have a week to relish the win before hosting New Mexico Sunday at 1 p.m.
Sophomore midfielder Havana Solaun scored the first goal of the game against Ole Miss early in the first half. Solaun leads the Gators with four goals on the season.
