Gators Soccer adds four Freshman to 2024 Roster

The Florida Gators soccer team announced the incoming freshman class joining the team for the 2024 season.

This year’s signing class includes four new members. Last season, 12 freshmen were named to the 2023 roster. The four-member class includes Norah Abbott, Ryleigh Acosta, Skye Barnes and Zamiyah Hill.

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Skye Barnes

Barnes was the first announced signee for the Gators on Thursday. She is a defender from Oviedo, Florida, where she attended Hagerty High School. She played club for Florida Kraze Krush ECNL. While playing at the club level, Barnes was named to the Southeast Conference First Team. She was also chosen to play in the Tennessee national selection game.

During her high school career, she was named to the Orlando Sentinel All-Area first team in 2022 and the second team in 2023.

Barnes is following in the footsteps of her high school coach, Angie Olson Densburg who attended Florida and was named MVP at the 1999 SEC Tournament.

“Skye is awesome,” Bohon said. “We are pumped because we think she will fill a lot of different positions and the fun part will be figuring out where she’s going to be able to impact the most.”

Barnes said she chose UF because she loved the family-like atmosphere between the team and coaches.

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Norah Abbott

Abbott is a defensive midfielder from Florence, South Carolina. She started off her high school career at West Florence High School before moving to Bradenton to play club for IMG Academy. At West Florence, Abbott was named to the First Team All-Region and received the MVP award during her freshman season.

Abbott also played with the Switzerland Under-17 National Team in Round 1 of the UEFA European Championship in 2022.

When asked why she chose the University of Florida, she said, “I chose UF because they care about me as a person and not just an athlete.”

Coach Bohon explained that Abbott stood out from the first time they watched her play. “She embodies that blue-collar grittiness, she’s a tough six – hard to beat, disrupts a lot of things, and is just a quality person off the field.”

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Ryleigh Acosta

Up next for the Gator’s incoming freshman class is Ryleigh Acosta, a midfielder from Cape Coral, Florida. Acosta attended Mariner High School and played club on the ECNL team at FC Prime. She spent three years on the ODP state team, one year on the ODP regional team and attended the US Soccer Olympic Development national camp in 2019.

Acosta received multiple honors during her time at Mariner High School. She was named the Florida Dairy Farmer Class 5A Player of the Year in 2023 and named an All-American by United States Coaches.

Coach Bohon said Acosta was one of her first phone calls on June 15 when she was able to start recruiting players for Florida. “She came to our ID camp and stood out incredibly, she was highly technical and a very quick, fast player.”

Acosta said she chose UF because of the academics, the college atmosphere and the culture of the team.

Zamiyah Hill

The final Gators soccer signee is Zamiyah Hill, a forward from Lynn Haven, Florida. She attended Mosley High School and played club for Florida Elite Soccer Academy. Hill had a lot of success for her high school soccer team. She scored 84 goals in her first three seasons including 35 in her sophomore year, breaking the Mosley record.

Despite being a standout on the soccer field, Hill also ran Track and Field in high school. She won in the 400m and 4×400 relay, placed sixth in long jump, and seventh in the 400m at districts.

Coach Bohon said “Zamiyah is a great athletic fast-attacking player. She likes to get stuck in, she really prides herself on the defensive side of the ball and we think she’s a little bit of a hidden gem that slipped through the cracks a bit.”

Hill explained that the coaching staff was a big deciding factor in choosing UF and also because she believes UF is an amazing university.

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