The gates of Donald R. Dizney Stadium will open once again on Sunday night when the Florida Gators (1-5-2) host the unranked North Florida Ospreys (5-1).
Florida traveled to Nashville, Tennessee, on Friday night and fought to a scoreless draw with the Vanderbilt Commodores. Vandy launched an avalanche of 19 shots, but the Gators defense survived behind UF sophomore goalkeeper Alexa Goldberg’s seven saves to keep the match deadlocked at zero.
The Gators and UNF have only met once before, back in March 2021, and Florida came out on top with a 2-0 final score
North Florida is currently riding a four-game win streak after prominent wins against Winthrop and Charleston Southern. The Ospreys only loss was a 1-0 contest against the South Florida Bulls on Aug. 22.
The Ospreys’ top goalscorer this season, graduate forward Thias Reiss, will enter Sunday with five goals and an assist off 25 shots on goal in 2021-22 so far. Sophomore midfielder Kayla Bond is another Osprey offensive weapon carrying a goal to her name in the fall of 2021.
UF redshirt sophomore Nicole Vernis and junior defender Alivia Gonzalez recorded a shot each in Florida’s efforts to penetrate the Commodore defense. Graduate student Kit Loferski didn’t place a shot but continues to show speed when pushing the ball upfield.
Florida continues the hunt for its second win on Sunday afternoon with the kickoff set for 6 p.m. The match will be broadcast on SEC Network+ and can be heard on ESPN Gainesville 98.1 FM/850 AM.
Contact Jesse Richardson at jrichardson@alligator.org. Follow him on Twitter @JesseRich352.
