BLACKSBURG, Va. – Continuing to stay unbeaten in the all-time series with Virginia Tech and extending the overall record to 16-0-2, No. 23 Florida State (7-2-0, 2-1-0 ACC) earned another three points on the road with a 2-0 shutout at Virginia Tech (6-3-2, 0-2-1 ACC) on Sunday afternoon.
With the win, FSU head coach Mark Krikorian becomes the eighth coach in NCAA Division I women’s soccer history with 400 wins, and improves his record at Florida State to 232-51-26 for a .793 winning percentage.
Krikorian now has a career collegiate record of 400-100-32 and has been named ACC Coach of the Year four times (2005, 2009, 2012 and 2014) and received NSCAA Regional Coach of the Year honors eight times, including being NSCAA National Coach of the Year in 1992, 1995 and 2014.
The shutout is the third of the season for FSU to give redshirt senior Cassie Miller 43 for her career, moving into a tie for 10th with Marquette’s Natalie Kulla (2008-11) on the NCAA all-time list.
“This was a real tough road trip for us, going and playing at Louisville and then coming over to play her at Virginia Tech,” said Krikorian. “Coming away with six points and two road wins is a good weekend for us. We’ll walk away feeling good about that. I think during the course of today’s match, there were some pretty good moments, but certainly some areas where we need to get better.”
The Seminoles and Hokies played to a scoreless first half, but FSU led in possession and held a 5-3 advantage in corners. The Noles outshot Virginia Tech, 12-5, in the opening 45 minutes, including six from sophomore Deyna Castellanos.
The best scoring chance for Florida State came in the 36th minute, as a corner kick from Natalia Kuikka went to the top of the six-yard box for Anna Patten. The freshman midfielder headed the ball toward the near post, but a diving save by VT’s Mandy McGlynn kept the ball out of the net.
The Hokies nearly opened the scoring in the 53rd minute as Madi Conyers’ shot from the right side ricocheted of the back post, but there were no VT players around for the rebound.
Florida State quickly counterattacked and Castellanos was able to take the ball into the penalty box before being taken down by Alia Abu El Hawa. Castellanos converted the PK for her 10th goal of the season, giving FSU a 1-0 lead at 52:27.
Less than three minutes later, Castellanos helped extend the Seminole lead to 2-0 as her chip pass into Dallas Dorosy was collected and the junior midfielder slotted the ball into the net for her third goal of the year at 55:13.
The Seminoles continued to pressure, earning six shots and three corner kicks from the 57th minute to the 73rd minute, keeping Virginia Tech out of their offensive third for the majority of that time.
Florida State held off a couple of late corner kick opportunities by Virginia Tech to secure the win. Overall for the game, FSU outshot the Hokies, 23-6, and had 11 corners to VT’s 5.
Florida State returns to Tallahassee this week for a conference match against NC State (8-2-1, 1-1-1 ACC) at the Seminole Soccer Complex on Friday, September 29 at 7:00 p.m. The game will be broadcast on ACC Network Extra and live stats will be available on Seminoles.com. Admission is free for all home regular season games.
