When UF coach Becky Burleigh first watched Adriana Leon play soccer, she saw a relentless striker with a will to score.
Burleigh wanted her badly. Nearly three years later, Leon finally wanted Burleigh.
Leon, a forward from King City, Ontario, signed with Notre Dame after high school. But after two seasons and a national title, Leon transferred to UF to play for Burleigh.
The addition of Leon gives the Gators a proven attacking boost this season.
“We recruited her the first time, and Notre Dame made a good offer,” Burleigh said. “For whatever reason, she chose to go there. I don’t know what she was thinking.”
At Notre Dame, Leon took what she wanted. As a freshman, the Canadian striker led the Fighting Irish to an NCAA College Cup crown. In the title match against top-seeded Stanford, she came off the bench to score the game’s lone goal in the 63rd minute.
“I wouldn’t say it’s the favorite (moment of my life),” she said, “but it’s up there.”
Leon had an increased role with the Irish in an up-and-down sophomore season. Of her 20 matches, she started 15 — eight more than in 2010. She notched six goals and five assists, but scored four of her goals in the season’s first five matches.
After Notre Dame fell to Illinois 1-0 in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament, she decided to transfer to Florida.
Leon declined to comment on why she chose to leave the Irish.
Fighting Irish head coach Randy Waldrum also declined comment on the situation through Notre Dame's media relations office.
Burleigh said she doesn’t know why Leon left.
“Those are questions she could answer better than I can,” Burleigh said. “I’m just happy that she did (transfer).”
Leon said she always had Florida in the back of her mind during her recruitment.
“Something about the Gators I like,” she said.
When Leon first practiced with the Gators on Aug. 1, she wanted to make an early impression. At that time, she was also preparing for the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup with the Canadian team.
Leon didn’t use her obligation to the Canadian team as a reason to not work hard with the Gators during their training sessions, redshirt senior McKenzie Barney said.
“That would be a great excuse for someone to not really get involved with the team,” Barney said. “But every day, she wanted to do everything we were doing and get in the mix. And not only that, but she wanted to run the fitness test too, which we didn’t ask her to do. She felt like she needed to prove it in order to practice. That’s kind of carried through and increased as time’s gone on.”
Leon left Gainesville on Aug. 5 after the brief practice stint with Florida. When the Gators opened their season against Miami on Aug. 17, she was in Japan.
At the U-20 Women’s World Cup, Leon flourished on the field, but Canada failed to advance out of group play with a 1-2 record.
In three matches, she recorded a hat trick and two assists. The three-goal effort came in a 6-0 trouncing of Argentina on Aug. 20.
“The whole experience was amazing,” she said of competing in Japan. “It felt good to get some goals.”
Canada was knocked out of contention on Aug. 27, and Leon arrived in Gainesville two days later. In three matches without Leon, the Gators went 1-1-1.
The jet-lagged and sore forward had only two days to catch up on what she missed. But against top-ranked Florida State on Friday, she logged 57 minutes. She also played 63 minutes on Sunday night against FIU.
In both matches, she recorded three shots — including a shot on goal — but no goals.
“Not my best,” she said. “I really didn’t have a good couple of games. My touch was off. I was just mentally really exhausted.
“It’s not even the system that you have to get used to. It’s more just playing with your teammates and getting to know what they do and where they like to be on the field.”
While Leon was hard on herself about her play, Burleigh saw a lot of positives.
“She gave some great balls that should have been assists,” Burleigh said on Sunday. “They were perfectly placed balls that we didn’t have the ability to get on the end of.
“She hasn’t really been in our system yet to understand what we’re doing. And that’s going to take a little time.”
It may take Leon a while to adjust to her new team, but the Gators see the 5-foot-3 forward as a game-changing player. Leon even sees it in herself.
“I expect to be someone who’s going to impact the team every minute of every game,” she said. “I expect to be starting to score some goals and setting up my teammates.”
Leon should give UF an edge with her competitive nature and toughness. Barney summed up Leon with one word: aggressive.
“She’s going to run through a wall for you,” Barney said. “She’ll do whatever it takes to score or get the ball back. At the end of the day, those are the players we want on this team.”
Adriana Leon (91) gets past Nicole Diperna (16) of Florida International University during UF's 3-0 win on Sept. 2. Leon scored the game-winning goal in overtime against Auburn on Sunday at the AU Soccer Complex.
