Florida may have won its match against Tennessee, but the victory didn’t come without a cost.
Erika Tymrak, an All-American attacking midfielder, sprained her left ankle in the final minute of the first half after getting tripped up by a Volunteer defender.
She sat out the final 45 minutes as Florida (5-3-1, 2-1 Southeastern Conference) withstood a rally from No. 23 Tennessee 6-2-2, 1-1-1 SEC) to win 2-1 at James G. Pressly Stadium.
Tymrak returned to the Gator sideline early in the second half, gingerly walking from the locker room with a boot on her left foot. Her status is unknown for Sunday’s home match against Georgia at 2 p.m.
Coach Becky Burleigh downplayed the severity of Tymrak’s injury
“It’s just an ankle sprain,” she said. “Those aren’t usually that big of a deal.”
The Gators now have two of their All-Americans dealing with injuries. Center back Kat Williamson suffered a right meniscus tear against Florida International on Sept. 2. The redshirt senior hasn’t seen the field since.
“No one can fill in for Erika,” redshirt senior McKenzie Barney said. “That’s kind of the fine line on that one.”
As a heavy downpour soaked the field early, junior forward Adriana Leon got the Gators off to an early 1-0 lead.
She booted a shot into the top corner from 20 yards out in the sixth minute. Sophomore defender Lauren Silver earned the assist on the play. The shot bounced off the bottom of the crossbar and down into the net.
“I just saw the open space in front of me and wanted to shoot it,” Leon said. “All of the defenders sat down.”
Burleigh added: “She likes to create her own shot. She gives us range. If she’s successful with that, then we’re going to encourage it.”
Leon got another chance to score in the 38th minute when Tennessee’s Ali Hall fouled her in the penalty box. Goalkeeper Julie Eckel deflected Leon’s penalty kick away from the goal.
After Tymrak left the match in the 45th minute, Barney subbed in and stepped up in her place. Off a wide cross from sophomore Havana Solaun, the forward scored in the 52nd minute to put the Gators up 2-0.
“We scored that goal,” Barney said, “and we even said ‘We did that one for E.’”
But the Vols rallied back in the 73rd minute when Hannah Wilkinson notched a goal from three yards out.
Leon said the absence of Tymrak changed the Gators’ style of play in the second half.
“In the second half, we kind of panicked a little bit,” she said. “We didn’t really have anybody in the middle who was carrying the ball forward, so we had to just switch it around and find a different way.”
But even without Tymrak, the Gators were able to hold on for the final 17 minutes to earn the victory.
“It’s great that we got the win,” Burleigh said. “I’m not sure that we kept our composure. That was my disappointment, a little bit, that we fell into their style of play.”
