TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – No. 3 Florida State (2-0-0) registered two goals in each half as the Seminoles cruised to a 4-1 victory over Auburn (0-1-1) on Sunday afternoon inside Seminole Soccer Complex to put the finishing touches on a perfect season opening weekend for the Garnet and Gold.
FSU’s Berglind Thorvaldsdottir (Vestmannaeyjar, Iceland) led all scorers on Sunday with a five-point afternoon as she tallied two goals and an assist for her first career points as a Seminole. Jamia Fields (Alta Loma, Calif.) also added a goal and an assist in the win as Florida State improved to 9-2-0 against Auburn all-time. The four goals on Sunday also marked the most against the Tigers in the series since 1999 when FSU was victorious 4-0 in Auburn.
“The attacking play was pretty good and it’s nice to get rewarded with a few balls in the back of the net,” said head coach Mark Krikorian. “Our finishing around the penalty box was better than Friday night. It was a good solid performance. It was a little disappointing to give up a goal at the end but that’s going to happen on occasion and hopefully, we’ll get better for it.
“Berglind is a big talent and she’s good around the goal,” said Krikorian. “When the opportunity comes, she takes advantage of it. I think there is more to come from her. She has the quality to score some goals and I look forward to watching it.”
“It felt pretty good,” said Thorvaldsdottir on her five-point performance on Sunday. “I’m pretty happy with how the team played. It was a good win for us. We’re doing well. It’s a great start to the season.”
The win also extended Florida State’s home-winning streak to a school record 20 straight victories – a mark that dates back to the 2011 season.
“Every team in the country wants to have a home (field) advantage and it’s seems we’ve been able to establish that here,” said Krikorian. “We have a beautiful field and a great crowd and it helps. We’ve been a pretty good team at home.”
Thorvaldsdottir gave the Seminoles the early led in the 16th minute on a great finish off a cross from Marta Bakowska-Mathews (Herne Bay, Kent, England). The Icelandic native snuck in behind the Auburn defense to one-time the cross with a diving header inside the left post from four yards out. Nickolette Driesse (Wayne, N.J.) began the scoring play finding Bakowska-Mathews out on the right flank, who took a few dribbles before finding Thorvaldsdottir for the goal. The assist for Driesse was her second in as many matches, while it was the first of the season for Bakowska-Mathews.
Florida State extended its lead to 2-0 right before the half when Kristin Grubka (Melbourne, Fla.) was tackled from behind by an Auburn defender inside the box leading to a penalty kick opportunity. Nora Kervroedan (Maurepas, France) took the shot and converted the pk for her second goal of the season.
For the second straight game, Florida State held the opposition without a shot in the first half as the Seminoles went into the locker room on Sunday with an 11-0 shot advantage over the Tigers.
“Again, I felt pretty good about our play on the defensive side,” added Krikorian. “I’m not sure how many shots they had, but we sure limited their chances at the goal, which was our intent coming in. I thought overall we were solid with our defending and our attacking play.”
The Seminoles wasted very little time adding to their lead in the second half when Thorvaldsdottir connected on her second goal of the afternoon in the 53rd minute to give Florida State a commanding 3-0 lead. Freshman Yulie Lopez (West Palm Beach, Fla.) sent a through ball to Fields who beat a Tiger defender on the right side before sending a beautiful cross into the box to Thorvaldsdottir who redirected the pass inside the left post for her first career multi-goal game.
It wasn’t until the 60th minute that Auburn finally registered its first shot of the game when Kim Spence sent a long distance shot wide of the net.
Forty-seven seconds later the Seminoles had a 4-0 lead thanks to the scoring duo of Fields and Thorvaldsdottir once again. Thorvaldsdottir evaded an Auburn player with a quick change of direction leading to a long run down the left side of the pitch. The redshirt freshman forward then sent a long cross inside the 18-yard box where Fields climbed the ladder sending a header on goal. The shot deflected off the out stretched hands of Auburn keeper Alicen Wright and into the net for Fields’ first goal of the season.
“Honestly, I don’t remember the finish,” said Fields. “But it was a great ball from Berglind and I was able to get my head on it for the goal.”
Auburn would avoid the shutout in the 86th minute when Haley Robinson found the back of the net for the Tigers’ first goal of the season. The scoring play came off a corner started by Bianca Sierra. The ball was played out to Casie Ramsier who redirected a header on goal from 18 yards out but a save by Marlo Sweatman on the far post kept the ball out of the net. The rebound went out to Robinson, who redirected the ball into the net for the goal.
The Seminoles outshot the Tigers 19-3 on the afternoon, while Florida State also held the advantage in corner kicks at 6-2.
Thorvaldsdottir and Bakowska-Mathews each tallied a game-high three shots, while Grubka, Fields and Kervroedan all registered two shots a piece.
Florida State returns to the pitch on Friday, August 30 when the Seminoles head to Gainesville to take on No. 9 Florida at 7 p.m. The game will air live on Fox Sports South, while gametracker and updates on twitter will be available throughout the match.
As always, Seminole fans can follow the Noles on twitter @FSU_Soccer and remember to like the Seminoles on Facebook (www.facebook.com/FSUSoccer).
