CLEMSON, S.C. – The No. 6 Florida State soccer team (8-2-0) defeated No. 9 Clemson (7-1-1) 2-1 in Clemson, S.C. in a top-10 battle on Thursday night.
“I thought that our effort was outstanding today,” said head coach Mark Krikorian. “We combined some really good soccer at times with a really good mentality. We came out and competed hard against a really good team that is very competitive and it was a hard-fought win.”
The Noles were led offensively by Deyna Castellanos and Yujie Zhao, both recording a goal and assist of their own. Castellanos’ stellar offensive performance recording one goal and one assist moves her into third all-time at FSU with 103 points.
The Noles got off their first shot of the game in the second minute on a Jenna Nighswonger shot that was blocked. Their next shot was their first goal. It came in the 11th minute from Yujie Zhao, her fourth of the season. Malia Berkely and Deyna Castellanos recorded the assists.
Six minutes later the Garnet and Gold made it 2-0 on Castellanos team-leading sixth goal of the season on assists from Zhao and Abbey Newton.
Clemson finally got some offense put together at the end of the half with two corners and three shots resulting in their first goal of the game in the 44th minute. The goal scored by Maliah Morris was unassisted and came off a scramble after a corner kick.
Not much was going for either team in the second half as neither team really threatened on the offensive end FSU finished with two shots in the second half, while the Tigers only recorded one.
Clemson made a run in the 83rd minutes that was broken up by Gabby Carle leading to two straight Clemson corners. Those corners were cleared by the Noles.
The Noles held off the Tigers for the remaining of the second half leading to their third ranked win of the season and first over a top-10 season.
Florida State is back on Sunday at Syracuse at 1 pm on the ACC Network X
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Notes:
- Deyna Castellanos is currently in third at Florida State with 42 career goals.
- With three assists against Boston College in the ACC Opener, Castellanos tied a school record. She currently ranks fourth in the country with seven assists.
- Caroline Jeffers is in a tie for ninth at Florida State with eight career shutouts
- Florida State is 129-56-11 all-time in the month of September, 85-20-8 under head coach Mark Krikorian.
- The Seminoles have had three student-athletes record multi-goal games this season. There have been four games with an athlete to score multiple goals (Jenna Nighswonger vs. Colorado; Jaelin Howell vs. Samford; Yujie Zhao vs. Villanova, Nighswonger vs. Boston College).
- Castellanos is now ranks third all-time at FSU with 103 points in her career.
