The Florida Gators women's soccer team represents the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

in the sport of college

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

. The Gators compete in Division I of the

National Collegiate Athletics Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

(NCAA) and the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities of ...

(SEC). They are coached by

Samantha Bohon Samantha Baggett Bohon (born Samantha Lea Baggett; born June 7, 1976) is an American soccer head coach for the Florida Gators women's soccer team and retired player who was a member of the United States women's national soccer team. Personal lif ...

and play their home games in James G. Pressly Stadium on the university's

Gainesville, Florida Gainesville is the county seat of Alachua County, Florida, Alachua County, Florida, and the largest city in North Central Florida, with a population of 141,085 in 2020. It is the principal city of the Gainesville metropolitan area, Florida, Gaine ...

campus. They have won thirteen conference championships and one NCAA national championship.

History

Becky Burleigh was named the first head coach of the start-up Florida Gators soccer program on June 28, 1994, and has served as the only head coach in the program's history.''2017 Florida Gators Soccer Media Guide''
Year-by-Year Results
Retrieved December 25, 2018. Since the Gators' began play in the fall of 1995, the team has compiled a record of 414-120-36 and a winning percentage of 0.7579, and Burleigh's Gators teams have qualified for the NCAA Tournament in 21 of the 24 seasons of the program's history. In 1998, in the Gators soccer program's fourth year of existence, the Gators won their first NCAA national title by defeating the defending national champion

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

Tar Heels 1–0 in the final game of the tournament.Pat Dooley,
Top 25 Gator teams: #5 1998 Women's soccer
" ''Gainesville Sun'' (June 4, 2009). Retrieved July 15, 2009. The 1998 Gators finished 26–1, having lost their only match to the same North Carolina team that the Gators defeated in the NCAA championship final. Players from the Gators' 1998 national championship team included All-Americans Erin Baxter,

Danielle Fotopoulos Danielle Ruth Fotopoulos (; born March 24, 1976) is an American soccer coach and former player. Fotopoulos holds the all-time National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I records for goals and points, and was a member of the Univer ...

and

Heather Mitts Heather Mitts Feeley (born Heather Blaine Mitts; June 9, 1978) is an American former professional soccer defender. Mitts played college soccer for the University of Florida, and thereafter, she played professionally in the Women's Professional ...

. In addition to their 1998 national championship season, the Gators have advanced to the NCAA tournament semi-final once (2001), the quarter-finals four times (1996, 2003, 2014, 2017), and the round of sixteen six times (2006, 2007, 2008, 2012, 2014, 2017). The Gators play in the Southeastern Conference. In conference play, the Gators teams have won ten SEC championships, and twelve SEC tournament titles, leading all other SEC teams since the Florida soccer team began play in 1995. Most recently, the Gators won the SEC championship (regular season) again in 2015 and the SEC championship (tournament) in 2016. In 2016, the Gators advanced to the third round of the NCAA tournament before losing to

Auburn Auburn may refer to: Places Australia * Auburn, New South Wales * City of Auburn, the local government area *Electoral district of Auburn *Auburn, Queensland, a locality in the Western Downs Region *Auburn, South Australia *Auburn, Tasmania *Aub ...

. The Gators finished the 2016 season 8–3-0 in the SEC, and 17-5-1 overall.

Current roster

''As of April 20, 2021''

Notable players

First-team All-Americans

The following Florida soccer players have been named first-team All-Americans: * Erin Baxter (1997) *

(1998) *

(1999) * Abby Wambach (1999, 2001) *

Melanie Booth Melanie Lynn Booth (born August 24, 1984) is a Canadian retired soccer player. She last played for Sky Blue FC in the National Women's Soccer League and for the Canada women's national soccer team. Early life Booth was born in Burlington, O ...

(2005) *

Erika Tymrak Erika Leigh Tymrak (born August 7, 1991) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a midfielder for Orlando Pride of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). She was previously a member of the United States under-17 team that was r ...

(2012) * Christen Westphal (2015) *

Savannah Jordan Savannah Brooke Jordan (born January 24, 1995) is an American retired soccer forward who last played for the Houston Dash in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). She also played for Glasgow City in the Scottish Women's Premier League ...

(2015)

Internationals and professionals

* Former All-American Danielle Fotopoulos was a member of the U.S. National Team (1996–2005), and played on the

1999 FIFA Women's World Cup The 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup was the third edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the world championship for women's national soccer teams. It was hosted as well as won by the United States and took place from June 19 to July 10, 1999, at ...

championship team. * Abby Wambach and Heather Mitts won the gold medal with the United States in women's soccer at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens,Heather Mitts: The Official Website
About
. Retrieved July 20, 2009. and Mitts won the gold medal again at the 2008 games in Beijing. Both Wambach and Mitts were members of the U.S. runner-up team in the

2011 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup was the sixth FIFA Women's World Cup competition, the world championship for women's national association football teams. It was held from 26 June to 17 July 2011 in Germany, which won the right to host the even ...

, while Wambach captained the

2015 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup was the seventh FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international soccer championship contested by the women's national teams of the member associations of FIFA. The tournament was hosted by Canada for the ...

winning team. * Former All-American

has been a member of the Canada National Team since 2001, and was a member of Canada's FIFA Women's World Cup team in (

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

). * Danielle Murphy played for the England National Team from 1998 to 2003, and was the youngest-ever member of England's FIFA Women's World Cup team. * Erika Tymrak was named

National Women's Soccer League The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) is a professional women's soccer league at the top of the United States league system. It is owned by the teams and, until 2020, was under a management contract with the United States Soccer Federatio ...

Rookie of the Year in

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

and won two titles with FC Kansas City, in

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

and

. * Deanne Rose has been a member of the Canada National team since 2015, and won a bronze medal at the

2016 Olympic Games ) , nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams) , athletes = 11,238 , events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines) , opening = 5 August 2016 , closing = 21 August 2016 , opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer , cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro d ...

as well as a gold at the

2020 Tokyo Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the 1 ...

. * Christen Westphal was the third overall selection in the 2016 NWSL College Draft, taken by the

Boston Breakers The Boston Breakers were an American professional soccer club based in the Boston neighborhood of Allston. The team competed in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). They replaced the original Breakers, who competed in the defunct Women's ...

in the first round. She joined fellow former Gators Tymrak,

Adriana Leon Adriana Kristina Leon (born October 2, 1992) is a Canadian professional soccer player who plays as a winger for English Women's Super League club Manchester United and the Canadian national team. She previously played college soccer for NCA ...

, Lauren Silver,

Havana Solaun Havana Marguerite Solaun (born 23 February 1993) is a Jamaican professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Houston Dash of the American National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) and the Jamaica women's national team. Solaun began her pr ...

and Kat Williamson in the league. * Kaylan Marckese was selected with the 28th pick in the 2019 NWSL College Draft by

Sky Blue FC NJ/NY Gotham FC is a professional women's soccer team based in Harrison, New Jersey. Founded in 2006 as Jersey Sky Blue, the team was known as Sky Blue FC from 2008 until 2020. A founding member of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) in 2013 ...

(now known as Gotham FC). In July 2022, she signed for

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

of the WSL.

Coaching staff

Becky Burleigh became the first head coach of the Florida Gators soccer program on June 28, 1994. Prior to coaching at Florida, Burleigh was the head coach at Berry College, where her Lady Fury teams won two NAIA national championships. At Florida and Berry, Burleigh compiled an overall record of 496-141-43, with a winning percentage of 0.7610. She ranked fourth in total number of wins, and fifth in winning percentage, among all active Division I women's soccer coaches. Tony Amato served as the coach for the 2021–2022 season before being terminated after 1 season and a 4-12-4 record. Samantha Bohon was hired as the third coach of the program on May 16, 2022.

James G. Pressly Stadium

The Florida Gators soccer team plays its home games in James G. Pressly Stadium.GatorZone.com, Facilities
James G. Pressly Stadium
Retrieved July 16, 2009. Pressly Stadium is a dual-purpose facility serving as home to the soccer team and the men's and women's outdoor track & field teams. It is a lighted stadium and has a seating capacity of approximately 4,500. The stadium is named for James G. Pressly, a 1972 alumnus of the

University of Florida College of Law The University of Florida Fredric G. Levin College of Law (UF Law) is the law school of the University of Florida located in Gainesville, Florida. Founded in 1909, it is the oldest operating public law school in Florida, and second oldest overall ...

, who made a generous contribution to have the facility upgraded for Division I play. The Gators soccer team also has the exclusive use of a soccer practice field that was completed as part of the Florida Lacrosse Facility in 2009.

Season records

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Florida Gators Soccer 1994 establishments in Florida Association football clubs established in 1994 NCAA Division I women's soccer teams