UF soccer head coach Samantha Bohon made one thing clear this offseason: the Gators are no longer satisfied with treading water in the SEC. With a new transfer portal class inbound, Florida hopes to turn its output on the field into a force to be reckoned with in 2024.
“As a competitor, I’m tired of not being in that tournament,” Bohon said. “We need to be in the SEC Tournament, we want to be in the NCAA Tournament. We want to be competitive.”
As soon as the NCAA transfer portal opened last month, Bohon and her staff got to work. After weeks on end of film study in the Florida soccer “war room” and reaching out to prospective transfers, the Gators landed a pair of athletes Bohon believes can take this team to the next level: forward/midfielder Delaney Tellex and midfielder Kaela Standish.
Standish joins the Gators after spending her first two collegiate seasons at Utah, where she appeared in all but one game in the team’s 2023 campaign. The versatile midfielder played all 90 minutes in 11 of Utah’s 12 final matches, finishing the season with two goals and eight shot attempts.
Additionally, Standish primarily played out of position for the Utes in the back half of the season. While she normally lines up as a midfielder, Standish saw more reps as a center back due to the team’s lack of depth as the season went on. Bohon praised Standish’s multifaceted approach to the game, noting that it made her an appealing target as soon as she hit the transfer portal.
“That was appealing for us, to see some versatility in her,” Bohon said. “She was capable, not just from a physical standpoint, but from an IQ standpoint… As a coach, you have to have a lot of confidence in a player to move them out of position, especially in the center back.”
The respect between Standish and her new head coach appears to be mutual. She had nothing but praise for how Bohon handled her recruitment and has helped her assimilate into the Florida soccer culture. The midfielder is now ready to make an impact for the Gators this coming fall.
“I think I can bring really good energy to the team,” Standish said. “For me, I’m a very calm player… I just really want this group to succeed.”
Just one day after Standish declared her intention to move to Gainesville, Tellex announced she too would be joining the Gators in 2024. Tellex originally played for the Memphis Tigers, where she appeared in 18 of the team’s 22 games as a freshman last season.
As the season went on, Tellex slowly but surely found her footing on the pitch, eventually earning an American Athletic Conference All-Tournament team nod. Her first and only career goal with Memphis came in its AAC Championship matchup against the SMU Mustangs.
Above all else, Tellex joined the Gators due to their team-first mentality and the coaching staff’s all-around passion for the program. With more experience now under her belt, the sophomore will look to play an integral role in Florida’s offensive attack this coming season.
“I knew exactly what I was looking for in my next school,” Tellex said. “For me, that was the school that had a very strong team environment and valued the ‘person’ aspect over a ‘player.’”
Bohon noted Tellex’s passion and gritty attitude on the field made her a compelling addition to this Florida squad. Quipping that “the New Yorker in [Tellex]” tends to come out in tense moments on the field, Bohon believes the sophomore can provide a spark of energy the Gators may have been missing in the prior seasons.
“You can just see with Delaney, she’s got this competitive fire,” Bohon said. “She can be a little chippy at times, but for us, that was more of just this reflection of her competitive, compete-to-win attitude.”
Coming off a 2023 campaign that saw UF finish 6-5-6 and narrowly miss securing an SEC Tournament berth, Tellex and Stanish will join a hungry Florida squad ready to take their revenge and shock the world in 2024.
The Gators will return to Donald R. Dizney Stadium for an exhibition match Aug. 4, when they play host to the USF Bulls. Florida’s regular season will kick off less than two weeks later against the Western Carolina Catamounts Aug. 16.
Contact Jack Meyer at jmeyer@alligator.org. Follow him on X @jackmeyerUF.
Jack Meyer is a fourth-year journalism major and the Assistant Sports Editor for The Alligator. In his free time, he enjoys reviewing music, spending time with friends, playing video games and going to the gym.
