TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – It was a tale of two halves Thursday night inside the Seminole Soccer Complex as No. 5 Florida State (10-0-3, 5-0-2 ACC) erased a two-goal deficit scoring four second half goals en route to a 4-3 victory over Boston College (6-6-0, 3-4-0 ACC).
A lively crowd of 1,060 was on hand to witness the largest come-from-behind victory at home since October 7, 2001 when Florida State came back from two down to defeat Duke, 3-2, in overtime.
“In the first half, besides making a mental mistake or two, I thought that we played some pretty good soccer,” Florida State head coach Mark Krikorian said. “But against good teams, you can’t make mistakes and we paid the price twice tonight. We are not going to be able to survive if we continue to make mental mistakes.
“The good news is that I felt there was an awful lot of good soccer that went on through the course of the match. We had some pretty good chances and some quality finishes. Overall, when you look at the big picture, its three points in the ACC against a good BC team. We had to fight back from a two-goal deficit which is never easy and find a way to win.”
Thursday night also marked the Florida State Athletic Department’s kickoff to the ‘Paint It Pink’ campaign as the Seminole Soccer team donned pink jerseys in an effort to raise awareness for breast cancer. The game worn jerseys will be auctioned off online at Seminoles.com for two weeks beginning Wednesday, October 9.
“Playing for the cause is just fantastic,” added Krikorian. “The crowd here in Tallahassee was great and they are always very supportive. I thought that the players, coming out here wearing the pink shirts in support of breast cancer and breast cancer awareness, is for a great cause.”
The win kept the Seminoles unbeaten on the year, while running FSU’s school record home unbeaten streak to 27 games (26-0-1).
“It was a pretty tough game,” said Berglind Thorvaldsdottir. “We fought a lot in the second half to get back in it. It felt like we definitely wanted it more and we ended up with the win.”
The home unbeaten streak looked to be in jeopardy early as the Eagles jumped out to a two goal lead through the first 14 minutes of play as McKenzie Meehan scored twice in a span of one minute and 57 seconds to give BC a 2-0 advantage.
The first Boston College goal came off a quick restart following a Seminole foul deep in the Eagles’ offensive third. Madison Meehan took a pass from the left side of the pitch and fired it on goal but it was blocked by the Seminole defense. The ball deflected inside the 6-yard box where it remained as both teams fought for possession. McKenzie Meehan finally found the loose ball and one-timed it into the back of the net for the goal and a 1-0 BC lead.
The Eagles pushed their lead to 2-0 as McKenzie Meehan once again found the back of the net on a great pass from Gibby Wagner that split FSU’s central defense. Meehan ran in on the ball and blasted a shot from about 20 yards out that found the back of the net.
The two goals by Meehan in the first 14 minutes marked the first time that FSU had allowed more than one goal in a match this year.
For the second straight game, the Seminoles went into the locker room trailing but on Thursday night FSU faced its largest deficit of the season.
After Kelsey Wys made an outstanding diving save to prevent Meehan from recording a hat trick in the 51st minute, the tide seemed to turn in favor of Florida State as the Seminoles picked up their offensive intensity.
“We came out with a little more fight (in the second half),” said sophomore midfielder Carson Pickett. “We weren’t staying true to what we know. But in the second half, we were getting the passes that we needed; we were connecting and moving a lot more.”
FSU was rewarded for its fight in the 56th minute when Pickett got the Seminoles on the board with her first goal of the season. The play started when Kassey Kallman sent a long ball down the left hand side of the field. Megan Campbell did an outstanding job to get to the ball before it rolled passed the end line one-timing the ball back up towards the middle of the 18-yard box. Dagny Brynjarsdottir received the ball, reversed the play back to her left, leaving the ball for Pickett, who one-timed a shot into the upper right corner to cut the BC lead to 2-1.
“No matter who scores that first goal it will always be a game changer,” added Pickett. “We felt like we were getting the momentum back on our side. When we scored that goal, it got everyone going.”
Campbell created the equalizer in the 65th minute as her long throw-in went off a BC player from inside the 6-yard box and into the back of the net for an own goal.
“We always fight no matter what,” said Pickett. “We talked about it in the locker room, ‘we are fine, there is no reason to freak out.’ Even though we were down, we knew we could fight back as a team.”
Less than eight minutes later a great passing combination from Michaela Hahn to Jamia Fields led to a goal by Thorvaldsdottir to give the Seminoles their first lead of the match at 3-2. Hahn played a through ball to Fields, who passed across the 18-yard box to a sliding Thorvaldsdottir, who timed her run perfectly on the near post to score her team leading sixth goal of the season.
FSU’s lead was short lived as the Eagles’ Zoe Lombard tied the match at 3-3 in the 78th minute off a BC set piece. A Seminole foul deep in BC’s offensive third once again led to a goal as Lauren Bernard sent the free kick inside the box to Lombard who headed the ball into the back of the net for her first goal of the season.
The Seminoles would retake the lead in the 82nd minute on a penalty kick conversion by Marta Bakowska-Mathews. Thorvaldsdottir created the pk opportunity when she was taken down from behind inside the box after a great entry pass from Fields. The goal by Bakowska-Mathews’ was her third of the season and second game-winner.
Florida State outshot Boston College 21-9 on the night, while holding the advantage in corner kicks at 4-0. The win also kept the Seminoles undefeated all-time against the Eagles at home (7-0-0).
Florida State will have a week off before returning to the pitch on Thursday, October 10 when the Seminoles make their first trip to Syracuse. Match time is set for 7:00 p.m.
