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Entering Sunday’s contest the Florida – UCF series had been decidedly one-sided. The Gators hadn’t even managed to score on the Knights since 2016.

While UCF dominated much of the action and possession through ninety minutes of play, Florida scored a pair of second half goals to even things on the scoreboard.

The Knights opened scoring just 17 minutes into the game’s start. UCF’s leading scorer, Chloe Netzel, made a move to get by the UF defense and found the back of the net to give Central Florida an early advantage.

Then came the lightning and a fifty minute delay with just over 14 minutes left in the first half. Following the return to action, both teams swapped opportunities to score with Florida finally capitalizing in the 43rd minute. Delaney Tellex delivered a ball ahead of the defense to Vera Blom, who made a touch to go around the UCF goalkeeper and buried the shot into the empty net.

Both teams entered the half with six shot attempts, though UCF had five on target to Florida’s two.

Despite the even score, head coach Samantha Bohon stayed with the plan and put in freshman keeper Jayden Emmanuel to gain reps before conference play starts.

Both teams took turns grabbing momentum in the opening minutes of the second half. Florida’s Norah Abbott had multiple shot attempts in the first few minutes but was unable to get the attempts on goal. In the 60th minute, Amelia Malkin’s shot to the bottom left was stopped by UCF GK Sami Lipcon.

Following a foul by Njeri Butts, UCF capitalized on an opportunity with Netzel again finding nylon after a feed from Mia Asenjo. The goal put the Knights up 2-1 with just over thirty minutes to play.

The Gators evened things up when Sophie White got out on a breakaway after a turnover by the UCF backline. White closed in on Lipcon and shot just left of the keeper and into the open goal. For White, it was her first goal since 2022.

The final twenty minutes saw the game kick up a notch in physicality. Four yellow cards were given including three to UCF players. The Knights were also called offsides four times over the same time period.

Florida attempted eleven shots in the second half while limiting UCF to just five. In the game, Florida attempted five corners while the Knights has zero corner kick opportunities.

The Gators (1-0-2) will travel to Atlanta to face Georgia State on Thursday. The Panthers are 0-1-1 with the loss coming against Ole Miss and the 2-2 draw against Chattanooga.