TALLAHASSEE, Fl. — The No. 5 Florida State soccer team (11-3-0) dropped their first ACC game of the season on Sunday afternoon as they fell to top-ranked Virginia (11-0-3) 1-0 in doubles overtime.
“I thought that both groups competed very favorably,” said head coach Mark Krikorian. “We had two really good teams out here on a really warm day and both teams brought their best effort but at the end of the day, Virginia made one more play than we did and they scored the goal. Credit to them. They are a good team and I have a lot of respect for them. Good for them for coming in here and winning the game, but we will come back and reevaluate things and hopefully be better.”
The two teams were evenly matched the entire game as the Seminoles maintained possession for 54 percent of it. FSU also led in shots with a 14-10 advantage. None of that mattered at the Cavaliers came away with the win in the second overtime on a goal from Meghan McCool, her ninth of the season.
“I thought that our quality around the goal was not good enough,” said Krikorian. “There were enough times that we picked up balls in dangerous spots and if we were a little more efficient we probably could have gotten ourselves a goal. In fairness to Virginia, they got themselves some pretty good looks around goal as well. We are going to have to button that up a little more in terms of our defending but overall we just have to be a little better.”
The two teams both came away with three shots in the first half as Caroline Jeffers came away with two saves on those three shots. The second half was a lot more of the same as Jeffers came away with three saves on six shots for one of her top performances of the season.
“I thought Caroline was quite good today and made a lot of very good saves,” said Krikorian. “She was called upon to do a little more today than she typically has been but that is why you have the goalkeeper there. She had a very good game today.”
The Noles had a few good looks on goal throughout the game as Jenna Nighswonger finished with three shots, all on goal, and Yujie Zhao finished with five.
In overtime, the Noles had opportunities but could not convert. Virginia, with the only shot in overtime by either team, was able to put one in the back of the net in the 104th minute for the game’s only goal. The goal was scored by Meghan McCool and was assisted by Anna Sumpter and Courtney Petersen on a corner kick.
Florida State is back at the Seminole Soccer Complex on Friday, October 18 at 5 pm against in-state rival Miami.
