On New Year’s Eve in 2007, UF freshman goalie Nora Neset Gjoen’s house on the island of Sotra in Norway caught on fire. She was trapped with her brother on the third floor. The smoke threatened to overwhelm them.
“I went to the window, and when I opened it, the window on the floor below us burst and flames were setting out,” Gjoen said. “So I just figured my best chance was to jump.”
Gjoen, who was 15 at the time, was forced to abandon the burning house as her brother made his way down the stairwell. She jumped and landed on her feet, suffering a broken vertebra without nerve damage.
“I should’ve taken a parachute,” she said.
She was hospitalized for a week. Several weeks before suffering the injury, Gjoen signed a three-year contract with Arna-Bjornar, a Norwegian football club from Arna, Bergen.
Even after Gjoen’s injury, the club still signed her.
After a year of rehab, she began playing as a junior keeper for Arna-Bjornar.
In December 2009, Gjoen joined LSK Kvinner FK in Oslo as the club’s reserve keeper. Her biggest break, however, was coming soon.
She made her debut in Norway’s top regarded club league — Toppserien League — for IL Sandviken on June 12, 2010. After two years, she moved back to Bergen as the first keeper for Sandviken, a club special to the Gjoen family.
Gjoen said she moved around the three clubs in order to see as much game time as possible. But she always knew she wanted to play college soccer in the United States.
Now, Gjoen, who started at goalie for Norway in the 2012 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup, is eyeing a starting position at Florida.
As one of Florida’s early enrollees, Gjoen will have an opportunity to show off her skill set to the coaching staff this spring.
“I’m a pretty offensive goalie,” Gjoen said. “I like to see myself as the first defender of my team, and I’m a pretty decent shot-stopper.”
Gjoen brings valuable depth behind sophomore goalkeeper Taylor Burke.
“When you play for your country and you’ve played in games with a lot on the line, that certainly makes coming into college a lot easier,” coach Becky Burleigh said.
Gators sophomore goalkeeper Taylor Burke makes a save against the Tennessee Volunteers during a game in 2011. Burke played the second half in Florida's 3-0 home loss on FSU on Friday night.
