TALLAHASSEE, Fl. — The Florida State soccer team (16-5) defended their home turff in the first round of the NCAA Tournament with a 2-0 win over South Alabama (16-4-2).
The Noles improved to 19-0-1 all-time in the first round of the NCAA Tournament and 45-1-1 at home in the NCAA Tournament.
The Seminoles got out of the gate hot scoring in just four minutes and 44 seconds with a Kirsten McFarland goal coming off of assists from Jaelin Howell and Yujie Zhao. It was McFarland’s sixth goal of the season and came off a beautiful ball by Howell that led Zhao behind the defense. Zhao was then able to drop it off to McFarland for her first of two goals on the afternoon.
The Seminoles would go on to take seven more shots in the first half with multiple of them being blocked by the Jaguars defense before the ball could get to the net. Florida State had a good look on goal as Deyna Castellanos attempted a bicycle kick in the 39th minute that would go just wide.
The second half started with a shot launched by Castellanos right off the kickoff that would be saved by South Alabama. The Seminoles would take seven more shots before they finally got another one to hit the back of the net.
McFarland earned her second goal of the night on another Seminole double assist. Florida State attacked the middle of the Jaguars defense as Abbey Newton passed it to Zhao who earned her second assist of the night as she passed it along to McFarland for her second goal.
With the win, Florida State advanced to the NCAA second round for the 19th time in program history. The Seminoles will take on Brown on Friday at the Seminole Soccer Complex in Tallahassee, Fla.
