Tatum O’Coyne stood just a few yards away from the goal, searching for a chance to get the ball in the net. Junior forward Amelia Malkin found her in front of the box, and O’Coyne fired. It was her first collegiate goal — and followed a grueling battle she overcame to get there.
The redshirt junior forward scored her first Gator goal Aug. 24, contributing to the team’s 5-0 victory against the North Florida Ospreys after enduring a two-hour weather delay.
“It was an amazing feeling,” she said. “It felt like all of the hard work that I've put in, I get to finally reap the benefits of it, because I have not been able to for three years.”
However, O’Coyne’s road to her first goal was anything but easy. On Aug. 3, 2024, Tatum’s soccer career took a sharp detour during an exhibition match against the South Florida Bulls. During the second half, O’Coyne played the ball and turned upfield before being fouled from behind and falling.
She landed on her left knee and tore her ACL while trying to stand. She laid on the pitch in tears, as her first career start ended in the blink of an eye.
“I immediately knew I tore my ACL,” O’Coyne said. “I wasn’t crying because it hurt so bad, but … because I knew what just happened.”
Joining the team in 2022, the California native didn’t see much action in her first two seasons. But heading into her junior year, her role on the team grew. O’Coyne had an impressive spring training, leading the team in goals.
“She was playing her best soccer,” said head coach Samantha Bohon. “She was going to have a really good opportunity to play an elevated role that she had worked and been so patient for.”
However, the opportunity vanished in just one play.
“I felt like my junior year, I was finally going to get that moment,” said O’Coyne. “I feel like I worked so hard to finally get my moment, and it was over in the first game.”
This wasn’t the first time O’Coyne suffered an ACL tear. She tore it for the first time during her senior year of high school at San Diego’s Torrey Pines and didn’t return to playing soccer until she joined the Gators.
“I’ve been through it before, and it’s a really long grueling process,” she said. “It's more mental than physical, if anything, and I was definitely really upset.”
Instead of starting on the pitch her junior year, O’Coyne began physical therapy and embraced her new role on the sidelines, supporting her teammates and taking on a leadership role. She was even named to her program’s leadership council.
“It's easy to get disconnected from the team when you have an injury … because you're not out there playing with everybody,” O’Coyne said. “So it was really important that I tried to stay connected.”
Right after her surgery, O’Coyne attended the team’s film sessions on crutches. She coached her teammates one-on-one during practices and in the locker room, according to Bohon.
Bohon said O’Coyne’s vocalness on the sideline helped encourage fellow players.
“I will be a fan for life with Tatum, just because of her resiliency and who she is as a person,” Bohon said. “She's affected and impacted our program in a positive way in so many different facets.”
Meanwhile, O’Coyne had a heavy recovery, both physically and mentally. She had to balance the struggles of not being on the field while attending physical therapy three times a week to build muscle in her quad.
She endured several tests, including using a Biodex machine, which monitors muscle strength and tracks muscle strength deficits after injuries. In December, her left leg was 60% weaker than her right, but in January, the difference decreased to 20%. Over Christmas break, she began doing pilates, which she credits as a big help in her recovery.
Despite all the challenges, O’Coyne embraced the struggle and maintained her motivation.
“You have to celebrate those little wins, or else it feels like way longer and harder of a process,” she said. “You take it day by day, week by week, and you can celebrate like, ‘Oh my God, I started walking today.’ You can celebrate like, ‘I was able to jog, I can start jumping now.’”
One year later, O’Coyne fully recovered and was ready to take the pitch again. She stepped on the field against Florida Atlantic University on Aug. 3 for her first exhibition match in a year.
In the second half of the match, she found sophomore forward Ryleigh Acosta off a deep cross, which led to the Gators’ game-winning goal and a 1-0 victory over the Owls.
“It was honestly just really exciting,” O’Coyne said. “I'm so grateful to be healthy enough to do this, and I'm just gonna embrace it, regardless of if I play zero minutes, 90 minutes, we get our butts kicked or we win five to zero.”
In 2025, O’Coyne is on pace for her best collegiate season. In just two starts and 270 minutes, she has amassed eight shots and one goal, becoming a key contributor for the Gators’ offense.
When O’Coyne notched her first career goal, her teammates immediately embraced her. They weren’t just celebrating her milestone but also a year of hard work and resilience.
“I remember sprinting as fast as I can to go catch her, because I was just in awe,” senior defender Lauren McCloskey said. “I was so ready for this moment.”
McCloskey was on the field when the injury happened, kneeling on the pitch in tears over her fallen teammate and roommate. Distraught, she immediately stepped up to help, driving O’Coyne to practices and even once carrying her down four flights of stairs after their apartment’s elevator broke down, McCloskey said.
“It was tough as a friend to watch,” McCloskey said. “It felt so unfair to see her have to go through all this stuff when she has already been working so hard.”
Despite the setbacks of her injury, O’Coyne has been determined to put in her best effort in anything she does, and her mentality has never changed, McCloskey added.
Her resilience and positive attitude resonated with the entire team, proving to O’Coyne that her mentality as a player will carry over into her life outside the field.
“This injury has really taught me I'm more than a soccer player, and I know that I can deal with hard things and deal with adversity and come out of it stronger,” O’Coyne said.
Contact Adrian Carmona at acarmona@alligator.org. Follow him on Twitter @abcarmona04.
Adrian is a senior journalism major and the soccer reporter for Fall 2025. He enjoys playing Sporcle quizzes and ranting about South Florida sports.
