Florida dominated for the full 90 minutes against Stetson and found the back of the net eight times in its comfortable victory. Six different Gator players scored in the blowout including three freshmen.
The Florida Gators (3-0-1) defeated the Stetson Hatters (0-4) 8-0 Sunday night at Donald R. Dizney Stadium. Florida has now one back-to-back matches against Stetson dating back to last season. UF’s eight goals marked the most goals in a mtach since 1999 when the Gators defeated Florida International 8-0.
In the third minute, Gators junior forward Madeline Pirello sent a cross through traffic to redshirt junior Tori Grambo that led to the first shot of the match. Stetson freshman goalkeeper Mallory Osborn came up with the save.
Stetson freshman midfielder Samantha Markey picked up a yellow card in the 12th minute that resulted in a Gators set piece.
In the 16th minute, Florida freshman forward Megan Hinnenkamp snuck a shot past Osborn past the bottom left post. This was Hinnenkamp’s first career collegiate goal and gave UF an early lead.
Roughly two minutes later, Hinnenkamp picked up a brace when scored her second goal of the match when she blasted a strong shot into the top left corner.
“I was super excited because it was a few games coming,” said Hinnenkamp when asked about her goals. “They were fun goals to score too.”
The Gators continued to pepper the Hatters with shots early in the match and held a seven-to-zero shot advantage during the first 25 minutes. In the 21st minute, Florida graduate student forward Molly Grant deposited a third goal for UF when she sent a shot inside of the right post.
Grant and the Gators continued their scintillating start into the 27th minute when she placed her second goal of the match just out of the diving reach of Osborn.
Florida entered the halftime break with a four-goal lead. The Gators outshot the Hatters by a large margin in the first half as they put up 11 shots as Stetson failed to record a shot.
Within the opening minutes of the second half, redshirt junior Gators forward Maddy Rhodes sent a hard cross across the box that resulted in a Florida shot attempt.
In the 50th minute, UF freshman forward Lena Bailey drilled a shot into the back of the net off a quick centering pass from sophomore midfielder Njeri Butts to make it 5-0.
Nearly seven minutes later, Florida senior midfielder Julianne Leskauskas netted Florida’s sixth goal off of the fingertips of Stetson sophomore goalkeeper Morgan Flippin.
Gators freshman forward Liwa Nilsson, playing in her debut match, scored her first collegiate goal as well when she sent a shot just under the crossbar.
Rhodes joined in on the scoring party when she scored Florida’s eighth goal of the match in the 80th minute.
The Gators comfortably won 8-0 and remained undefeated to start the new season.
Florida will next play Sunday against the Kennesaw State Owls Sunday on the road. The match will be streamed on ESPN+.
Contact Austin Stirling at astirling@alligator.org. Follow him on Twitter @austinstirlingg
Austin Stirling is a third-year journalism major and sports reporter for The Alligator. He previously covered Gators women's basketball and is primarily covering soccer during the fall 2023 semester. He is a huge New York sports fan and is hoping the Jets can be a respectable football team for once in his life this season.
