GAINESVILLE, Fla. –Season-opening weekend action continues Sunday as Florida soccer begins 2017 home action versus Troy. Match time is set for 1 p.m. at the James G. Pressly Stadium. Admission is free for all Gator regular-season home action.
This is the first meeting between the two teams.
Match Promotions
The first 250 fans Sunday receive a Gator soccer cooling towel. UF students done with move-in should head over to Pressly Stadium to enjoy free pizza (first 100 students).
Youth are invited to come to field post-match to hear from the Gators as part of Florida's Watch the Player, Meet the Person season-long initiative.
Here's how to follow the Gators
Listen to Kyle Crooks and Taylor Burke's call of the match on ESPN Gainesville 98.1 FM / 850 AM or via
GatorVision.com.
The match can also be seen on
SEC Network + (must be a SEC Network subscriber).
In Friday's Season Opener:
Florida opened the 2017 season Friday with a 1-0 overtime win at Florida Atlantic. The Gators had chances – including a
Luís Arujo header off the crossbar as the halftime horn sounded – as UF outshot the Owls 14-2.
The golden goal was set up when freshman
Deanne Rose was fouled in the box and a penalty kick was awarded in the 96
th minute. Senior defender
Gabby Seiler – who was announced as team captain at the Gators' pre-game meal – stepped up and hit the shot to give Florida the 1-0 win. Seiler now has two goals in her Gator career and 12 as a collegiate (played at Georgia in 2014 & 2015).
It was the fourth time in the program's 23-year history a season opened with extra minutes.
About Troy:
Troy lost 1-0 to Mercer in Friday's home opener. The match was scoreless until the 84th minute when Caroline Smith put in the pass from Jasmine Spence.
In 2017, the Trojans return three of four starters (Haley Roberson, Nicole Strahl and Mecca Cobbin) from a backline that owned a 1.08 goals against average in 2016. Sophomore Maddie Brune also returns to the Troy midfield. Troy is picked to finish fifth in the Sun Belt Preseason poll released Aug. 9. The Trojans turned in a 7-10-3 record in 2016 and was eighth in the league with a 3-5-2 record.
Head Coach Ged O'Connor is in his first season with the Trojans. He coached for 11 seasons at Saint Leo.
Records:
Florida: 1-0-0, 0-0 SEC
Troy: 0-1-0, 0-0 Sun Belt
Preseason Conference Votes:
Florida tied for third in the 2016 SEC regular-season standings and won the SEC Tournament title. Troy was eighth h in 2016 Sun Belt standings.
Rankings:
Florida ranks No. 7 on the
preseason United Soccer Coaches (USC) poll.
It is the 21
st consecutive Florida appearance in the coaches' association preseason poll and the sixth straight year the Gators open among the nation's top 10. Florida faces four teams ranked in the USC preseason top 25. Three of the matches are at home - No. 2 Stanford (Aug. 25), No. 4 South Carolina (Oct. 26) and No. 15 Florida State (Sept. 8). Florida travels to meet preseason No. 10 Auburn (Oct. 13).
