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NCAA Nov 14, 2024

Florida Gators add six recruits from the Class of 2025, highlighted by All-Americans

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Florida Head Soccer Coach Samantha Bohon announced the signing of six new Gators.

The six-member class includes signees with All-America honors, played internationally and found success with their club and/or high school teams.

Two – Katie Johnston and Sophia Sindelar – will enroll at UF for the spring 2025 semester.

“This 2025 class is different in that this is the first class we as a staff were able to really evaluate for an entire year,” Bohon said. “We could not be happier with the group that we are bringing in. We feel, first and foremost, they embody the student, person, player model that we build our program around. Second of all, they are relentless competitors who will compete to win. They come from very successful backgrounds so we hope that they will bring that winning mentality to Florida. We feel like we’ve kind of hit every position – forwards, midfielders, defenders, goalkeeper – at a very high level. We think that this class is going to be very impactful right from the beginning.”

Florida Soccer Signees

Enrolling for 2025 season

Name Hometown Position High School Club
Lily Holden St. Augustine, Fla. GK Bartram Trail H.S. Jacksonville FC
Katie Johnston Edmond, Okla. F Bishop McGuinness Oklahoma Energy FC
Victoria Madison Tampa, Fla. D Hillsborough H.S. Florida Premier FC
Ava Paolini San Marcos, Calif. D San Marcos H.S. Slammers FC HB Koge ’07
Sophia Sindelar Rocky River, Ohio F Rocky River H.S. Internationals SC
Kai Tsakiris Corona del Mar, Calif. MF Corona del Mar H.S. Slammers FC HB Koge

Lily Holden

lily.holden3 | lilyholden07GK

  • Position: Goalkeeper
  • High School: Bertram Trail High School (Coaches: Jen Rodriguez)
  • Hometown: St. Augustine, Fla.
  • Club Team: Jacksonville FC (Girls) (Coaches: Wale Leyimu)

Club

High School

Bohon Said: “Lily is an in state kid, just local from Jacksonville who has a pretty high ceiling. We’re excited to see her in this training environment to see how much she can grow into her potential. I know she’s looking forward to the challenge.”

DYK: Holden is among more than 20 players from the Jacksonville area who have been a part of Gator soccer teams.

Katie Johnston

katie.b.johnston | realKatieJ

  • Position: Forward
  • High School: Bishop McGuinness Catholic High School (Coach: Kal Okot)
  • Hometown: Edmond. Okla.
  • Club Team: Oklahoma Energy FC (Coach: Kal Okot)

Club

High School

Bohon Said: “Katie Johnston has been an incredible player for her club team, Oklahoma Energy. She’s received all sorts of accolades for ECNL All-America and all conference. I have literally watched her run till her legs were jelly – that kid has a relentless, competitive attitude. She wants to compete to win. She can play a lot of different positions. She can play the nine, she can play out wide, maybe even the 10. We’re excited she’s coming in early so that we get the spring semester to work with her. But she is definitely a player that embodies that student, person, player mentality, with that little extra biting competitive edge.”

DYK: She is the second Katie Johnston to be a part of the Gator soccer program. The first Katie Johnston was from Massapequa, N.Y., and recorded 86 starts on the Gator backline from 2001-05.

Victoria Madison

victoriamadison_11 | victoriam_2025

  • Position: Defender
  • High School: Hillsborough High School (Coach: Shawn Meek)
  • Hometown: Tampa, Fla.
  • Club Team: Florida Premier FC (Coach: Leo Martini and Stuart Campbell)

Club

High School

Bohon Said: “Victoria is a beast in the back. She can hold her own with physicality and athleticism so we’re excited to see what she can do. One of the areas we’re going to work on with her is building out of the back from a distribution standpoint, but she has this incredible ceiling. We’re really excited to get to work with her.”

DYK: Madison was born in Gainesville and her entire family went to UF, making her a Gator fan from day one. Madison was also part of a Nike commercial.

Ava Paolini

 ava.paolini | AvaPaolini

  • Position: Center Back / Defender / Center Midfielder
  • High School: San Marcos High School (Coach: Alex Martinez)
  • Hometown: San Marcos, Calif.
  • Club Team: Slammers FC HB Koge (Coach: Ziad Khoury and Craig Bull)

Club

High School

Bohon Said: “Ava Paolini comes from an incredible heritage of club soccer, the Slammers out in California. They’re very well coached and well trained. She’s in a really good training environment. Ava’s got a really smart soccer IQ as a center back. We obviously graduate our entire starting center backs, so I know she’ll be looking to have an impact. Really smart player with good distribution skills – can have a textured ball, can drive a ball, can slot a ball from the back – and also a really good individual defender. So we’re really excited to have Ava.”

DYK: Paolini has an older sister, Madison, who is a member of Oregon State University’s soccer team.

Sophia Sindelar

sophia.sindelar | SindelarSophia

  • Position: Forward/Midfielder
  • High School: Rocky River High School (Coach: Patrick Hopkins)
  • Hometown: Rocky River, Ohio
  • Club Team: Internationals Girls SC (Coach: Zdravko Popovic and Keri Sarver)

Club

High School

Bohon Said: “Sophia Sindelar is a little worker bee who plays the 10. She plays for another really good club team with the Internationals, playing alongside some talented players as well, but college is her chance to do what she does in her own right. Works relentlessly, can finish two footed, loves to combine and get in behind, makes these really good off balancing runs as a 10. So we’re excited to have her come early and to be able to work with her this spring.”

DYK: Sindelar scored 167 goals for Rocky River High School – 63 in 2024, 59 in 2023, 31 in 2022 and 14 in 2021.

Kai Tsakiris

 kai.tsakiris

  • Position: Midfielder
  • High School: Corona del Mar High School (Coach: Bryan Middleton)
  • Hometown: Corona del Mar, Calif.
  • Club Team: Slammers FC HB Koge (Coach: Ziad Khoury and Craig Bull)

Club

High School

Bohon Said: “Kai is this little hidden diamond in the rough. We have been so excited about her as she’s another really good player coming from the Slammers. She is so unique in her individual ability to beat players and is incredibly technical. Loves facing up and taking players on 1v1 – just has this soccer technical ability that is going to be really impactful. Comes from a really strong soccer family with her brother playing in the MLS and her dad being youth national team coach. We are very excited to see what she can do in the SEC.”

DYK: Her father, Shaun Tsakiris, coaches the LA Galaxy U-17 team. Older brother, Niko, is part of Major League Soccer’s San Jose Earthquakes

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