BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Getting four goals from four different players, No. 6/4 Florida State (3-0-0) earned a 4-2 win on the road at Samford (0-3-0) on Thursday night in front of 921 fans at the Samford Track and Soccer Complex.
“Samford had a great game plan and were very organized and disciplined,” said FSU head coach Mark Krikorian. “They have a really special player and a lot of other players that are really good too, but I thought that we came out and scored the goal early, but lost our way a bit after that. Part of that of course is credit to the way Samford played. It is still nice to go on the road and win the game, but giving up a couple of goals is something we’ll certainly be concerned with.”
Florida State jumped out to an early lead with a goal in the third minute as freshman Adrienne Richardson took the ball into box down the left side and found Megan Connolly to finish from 10 yards for her third goal of the season.
Samford quickly tied up match in the 10th minute as a ball from Taylor Meneide seemed destined to roll over the end line on the right, but forward Jermaine Seoposenwe brought it back into the box for Lexi Orman to put into the net to square the match at 1-1.
The Noles continued to put pressure on through the rest of the first half, as shots by Connolly, Bella Dorosy and Clara Robbins all were low and on frame, but quality saves by Samford’s Anna Maddox kept the match at 1-1 after the first 45 minutes.
Samford had the first quality scoring chance of the second half, as Seoposenwe made a breakaway in the 54th minute on a counterattack down the right side, but sophomore Taylor Hallmon recovered and made a sliding block inside the six-yard box to deflect the ball away for a corner.
Junior Natalia Kuikka had a header go just wide of the net in the 58th minute, finding the end of a Connolly free kick, but couldn’t get it on the frame.
Deyna Castellanos gave the Seminoles a 2-1 lead at 64:36 as she collected a loose ball in the penalty box and drove a shot from the right just inside the left post for her fourth goal of the season.
Freshman Gloriana Villalobos nearly made it 3-1 FSU in the 71st minute, as her shot from 20 yards bounced off the crossbar before being secured by the Samford keeper.
Villalobos was fouled in the penalty box by Samford’s Allie Lourie less than a minute later, and Kuikka converted the PK to extend the Seminole advantage to 3-1 at 71:25.
Richardson set up the final scoring chance for Florida State in the 89th minute, dropping ball off for Robbins to shoot from 20 yards. Samford’s Maddox made the low save, but couldn’t handle the rebound and junior Dallas Dorosy finished the play with her first goal of the season.
Samford managed one final goal at 89:33 off the foot of Grace Packer for the final score of 4-2.
For the game, Florida State outshot Samford 20-7, including 12-3 in shots on goal. The Seminoles played with five freshmen and six underclassmen for the final 15 minutes as 14 different Seminoles played at least 30 minutes tonight.
“I thought today our freshmen played like freshmen,” added Krikorian. “And I don’t think that’s the standard we need from them. Going forward, they’re going to have to improve and develop if we are going to be a legitimate team and a contender later in the season. We learned some lessons today and hopefully we’ll get better.”
Florida State will wrap up the road trip at Alabama (2-1-0) on Sunday, August 27. The match between the Seminoles and the Crimson Tide will begin at 1:00 p.m. and will be broadcast live on the SEC Network. Live stats will be available on Seminoles.com.
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