Florida Ties Towson 1-1 – Florida Gators

 TOWSON, Md. – Florida soccer tied defending Colonial Athletic Association champion Towson 1-1 Sunday afternoon at Tiger Field.
 
It is the sixth time – and second consecutive – UF has opened a season unbeaten through the opening five matches. The last before the 2023 season came in 2010.
 
Sunday’s Scoring:
Florida held possession for much of the scoreless opening half but it took less than two minutes into the second half to get rewarded with a goal. Emilee Hauser took the free kick a few steps into the Tiger half. The ball she sent to the far post was touched forward by Lena Bailey. She followed the ball as it traveled toward goal and got the scoring touch at 46:31.
 
Jayden Emmanuel, who started the second half as UF’s goalkeeper, was given a red card for denying a goal scoring opportunity with a foul at 68:58. Alexa Goldberg returned to take Emmanuel’s place and Florida played the remainder of the match a man down.
 
Towson scored the tying goal with just 10 seconds left. The Tigers were awarded a free kick about 10 yards inside the Florida half. The ball sent by Sophie Thibeault was touched in by Maja Hansson out of the scrum in front of the goal.
 
Notables:

• Today’s opening goal was Lena Bailey was her second of the season as the goals came in consecutive matches. Bailey hit her first goal of the season in Thursday’s 2-0 win at Georgia State. The sophomore now has six goals in her Gator career.
• Emilee Hauser earned her first assist as a Gator on Bailey’s goal. The graduate transfer from Arkansas shared second in the Southeastern Conference last season with seven assists.
• Florida last had to play a man down 2021 at Tennessee. A total of nine cards were given out in Sunday’s match.

 
What Coach Bohon Said:
On this afternoon’s result:
“We didn’t play great in the first half. It took some adjustments as the game was called a lot differently than what we’ve been used to the rest of the season, so I thought we got really tentative in the first half. Thought we did a good job responding in the second half, getting a goal early and pressing them a little bit. Then factors beyond our control, really took over that game and that ended up being the difference for us winning this game or coming away with one point. So we will own our part of this, and we will get better. We’ll learn from it because it’s probably not gonna be the last time it’ll happen in a game but I’m certainly disappointed in the result.” – Florida Head…