Although the season ended in disappointing fashion for the Gators, multiple players received SEC honors throughout the season for their dominating performances.
The four players awarded SEC honors during the 2023 season included Freshman Megan Hinnenkamp, Freshman Lena Bailey, Redshirt Senior Daviana Vaka, and Senior Alexa Goldberg.
Megan Hinnenkamp
In her first college season, Megan Hinnenkamp was a standout player for the Gators. But the freshman from Missouri was already a dominating goal scorer before committing to Florida. She was named Missouriโs 2023 Gatorade Player of the Year, scoring 26 goals for her high school.
During her first season at Florida, Hinnenkamp led the Gators and all SEC freshmen with a season-high eight goals in the regular season. She became one of six in Floridaโs 29 seasons to lead the team in goals as a freshman.
Hinnenkamp received SEC Freshman of the Week three different times during the regular season. She received the first SEC honor on September 4, after scoring the opening goal in the Gators 1-1 tie against Kennesaw State. After that, she received the honor for the second time on October 2, after a dominating two-goal performance against LSU. And finally, on October 23, Hinnenkamp received the SEC honor after scoring the first and last goal in the 84th minute of the Gatorโs 3-3 tie against Vanderbilt which kept their season alive.
The freshman was named co-SEC Freshman of the Year at the end of the season. She shares the honor with Georgiaโs Summer Denigan. The forward was also named to the all-SEC Freshman team and the all-SEC second team.
Triple #SEC honors for ๐โฝ๏ธ No. 4โฃ!
๐ ๐ ๐ฒ๐ด๐ฎ๐ป ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ป๐ฒ๐ป๐ธ๐ฎ๐บ๐ฝ
๐น SEC Co-Freshman of the Year
๐น All-SEC Second Team
๐น SEC All-Freshman TeamCongratulations Megan!
๐ https://t.co/6s2VTvjpF0#GoGators | ๐โฝ๏ธ | #StudentPersonPlayer | @SEC pic.twitter.com/nWFlNgi0Wy
— Gators Soccer (@GatorsSoccer) October 29, 2023
Lena Bailey
The Gators roster was filled with many talented freshmen including forward Lena Bailey.
The forward from Tampa scored four goals during her freshman season. One of her standout goals was scored with 10 seconds to play in the first half of the Gator’s must-win game against Auburn. She earned SEC Freshman of the Week after scoring the game-winner in Floridaโs 1-0 win over Maryland.
๐โฝ๏ธ @LenaBailey_ is first #SEC Freshman โฝ๏ธ Player of the Week!
Congrats Lena!
๐ https://t.co/SVEe00n3Xf#GoGators | #StudentPersonPlayer | ๐โฝ๏ธ pic.twitter.com/ArCtsGfHmw
— Gators Soccer (@GatorsSoccer) August 21, 2023
Alexa Goldberg
The next player who received SEC honors for the Gators was goalkeeper Alexa Goldberg. The senior goalkeeper was a brick wall for Florida, recording multiple shutouts during the season.
Although the Gator’s tie against South Carolina ended their season early, it marked Goldbergโs eighth shutout during the season. She tied for fifth in Floridaโs records for solo shutouts in a season. Goldberg received SEC Defensive Player of the Week following Floridaโs fourth consecutive shutout in an 8-0 win against Stetson at the beginning of the season.
Senior GK ๐๐น๐ฒ๐ ๐ฎ ๐๐ผ๐น๐ฑ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ด is @SEC Defensive Player of the Week after helping ๐โฝ๏ธ to open season with 4โฃ consecutive shutouts!#GoGators | #StudentPersonPlayer | ๐โฝ๏ธhttps://t.co/MJNnZLcVjt
— Gators Soccer (@GatorsSoccer) August 28, 2023
Daviana Vaka
The final standout player for the Gators was center-back Daviana Vaka, the senior transfer from BYU. The redshirt senior from Utah played three seasons at BYU before making the decision to transfer to Florida where she quickly made an impact for the Gators.
Vaka led the Florida backline all season starting every game and playing the entirety of all 16 matches. She recorded her first assist as a Gator off a free kick that was scored by Lena Bailey during the Auburn win. Vaka was named SEC Defensive Player of the Week after Floridaโs sixth shutout of the season and a dominating victory at LSU. After the season ended for the Gators, Vaka was named All-SEC First Team defender.
๐ธโฝ๏ธ All-SEC First Team in first season with ๐โฝ๏ธ!
Congratulations ๐ ๐๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฎ ๐ฉ๐ฎ๐ธ๐ฎ!
๐ https://t.co/6s2VTvjXuy#GoGators | ๐โฝ๏ธ | #StudentPersonPlayer | @SEC pic.twitter.com/HWRt73X4Oh
— Gators Soccer (@GatorsSoccer) October 29, 2023