Gators Soccer Transfers: 10 Players Behind Florida’s New Look
Florida soccer has undergone a transformation since its last match of the 2025 season. The Gators, then coached by Samantha Bohon, lost 1-0 to Kentucky in the opening round of the SEC Tournament on Nov. 2, 2025. Bohon was fired on Nov. 12, opening the door for a new coach.
Nick Zimmerman’s first Florida roster included 10 transfers, seven of whom followed him from Mississippi State. The transfers have made an immediate impact: the group has scored 18 of the Gators’ 30 goals this season. Florida’s 13 different goal scorers are the program’s most since 2019, and six of them are transfers.
Zimmerman’s seven former Mississippi State players — Kyra Taylor, Zoe Main, Tatum Borman, Hannah Jibril, Adia Symmonds, Charlotte Grim and Ella Petersen — accounted for 17 goals and 49% of the Bulldogs’ scoring in 2025. Their familiarity with Zimmerman’s approach gave Florida a foundation, and the production followed.
Before Florida’s home opener against Coastal Carolina, Zimmerman praised the newcomers’ commitment to the standards he established.
“The attitude, the commitment has been extraordinary from the group,” Zimmerman said. “You’ve got players that are really embracing what we’re asking.”
That commitment helped Florida deliver against some of the nation’s top teams. The Gators defeated then-No. 3 Florida State 3-1 on Aug. 23, earning their first top-10 win since 2017 and their first victory over a defending national champion since 2015. Florida later added a 1-0 win over then-No. 5 Alabama on Oct. 8.
Senior forward Kyra Taylor emerged as one of the biggest beneficiaries of Zimmerman’s transition. After scoring four goals in 20 matches at Mississippi State last season, Taylor leads Florida with seven goals and 17 points through 16 matches.
Taylor earned three Player of the Week honors after recording back-to-back braces against Coastal Carolina and Florida State. She added a third brace in Florida’s 5-2 win at Texas A&M on Sept. 27.
But Taylor credits the group around her for helping fuel her production. After Florida’s win over Florida State, she emphasized how much the team had grown together since the offseason.
“I feel like we just feel like family,” Taylor said. “All of us are super close.”
Senior forward Zoe Main has also been central to Florida’s attack. She recorded six goals and two assists at Mississippi State in 2025 before joining Zimmerman in Gainesville. Main netted five goals in 16 matches (second to Taylor) and started every match for the Gators so far.
Main’s first three goals for Florida all came in the first eight minutes. She opened Florida’s regular-season scoring one minute and 31 seconds into its season opener at UCF on Aug. 13. She leads the Gators with seven assists and has recorded a goal contribution in 10 of her 16 starts.
For Main, the transition meant bringing familiar experiences into a new environment while continuing to grow as a player.
“Coming in this spring, it was such a unique thing to be a part of something that I kind of had been a part of, but in a very different way,” Main said.
Taylor and Main, who have combined for 12 goals, have provided much of Florida’s attacking production, but the newcomers’ impact extends beyond the front line.
Sophomore midfielder and defender Tatum Borman started 14 of 15 matches, contributing as a wide midfielder and fullback. At Mississippi State, she earned SEC All-Tournament honors and ranked No. 20 in TopDrawerSoccer’s fall 2025 freshmen rankings.
Borman scored from 20 yards against Wake Forest on Sept. 6, becoming the first player to score against the Demon Deacons in 2026.
Borman said the team emphasized maintaining its confidence regardless of the result.
“We talk about not getting too low,” Borman said. “Even if we have a loss, not getting too low, if we have a really big win, not getting too high.”
Senior defender Hannah Jibril brought SEC experience to Florida’s back line. She contributed to shutouts against Jacksonville and Youngstown State while scoring twice herself, including a 22-yard strike against Youngstown State. Jibril made nine starts in her first 10 appearances. She saw limited action following Florida’s match at Texas A&M but returned to the starting eleven at its 2-1 loss to Arkansas on Oct. 18.
Sophomore midfielder Adia Symmonds, a U.S. youth national team call-up, earned SEC All-Freshman honors at Mississippi State and ranked among TopDrawerSoccer’s top 10 transfers for 2026. She scored in Florida’s season opener at UCF before suffering a leg injury. Symmonds then returned to the starting lineup, appearing in each of Florida’s last five matches and assisting Taylor against Texas A&M.
Other former Mississippi State players have contributed in different roles. Charlotte Grim recorded her first collegiate assist at Florida against Jacksonville, setting up Lena Bailey’s second goal of the match. Defender Ella Petersen provided depth in the rotation, logging 149 minutes across nine appearances.
Florida’s other transfers have also brought experience from different programs. Senior forward Montelene Dymond arrived from Florida International, where she led the Panthers with eight goals and 16 points in 2025. She reunited with associate head coach Jonathan Garbar, who led FIU to its first Conference USA title in 2024. Dymond scored the opening goal in the match that clinched the championship.
Dymond scored against Florida State in August, beating the goalkeeper with her footwork as Florida extended its lead. The play earned a spot on ESPN’s SportsCenter Top 10 three days later.
Senior forward Kelsey Smith, a transfer from Maryland, also contributed to Florida’s attack. Smith led Maryland with six goals and 14 points in 2025 and recorded 12 shots and an assist across six starts for the Gators. Rounding up the group, TCU transfer Breahn Fisher appeared in four matches, totaling 94 minutes.
Seven players followed Zimmerman from Starkville, and three more arrived from FIU, Maryland and TCU. Together, they’ve given a program coming off a 6-7-5 season a new attack and a new identity.
Florida’s newcomers get one more chance to shape the regular season Sunday, when the Gators host Georgia at 1 p.m. at Donald R. Dizney Stadium. A win or draw clinches Florida a spot in the SEC Tournament.
“We always want to be together. When we’re out here, no one’s ever taking anything personal,” Main said.
Category: Gator Sports, Gators Soccer
