CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – There were a lot of firsts for Florida State soccer on Sunday afternoon in Charlottesville. First goal on the road at Virginia since 2011, first lead at Klöckner Stadium since 2007, and most importantly, the first road win in program history over the Cavaliers as No. 14 Florida State (12-3-2, 5-3-1 ACC) took down No. 6 Virginia (13-3-0, 6-3-0 ACC) by a score of 2-0.
“Overall, I think it was a strong performance,” said FSU head coach Mark Krikorian. “You don’t come in here to Virginia and come away with a win unless you have a good, solid game from beginning to end. We scored a couple of opportunistic goals, I thought that our collective defending was quite good and Brooke played well in goal as well. That is a very good Virginia team and that will go down as a good win for us.”
Florida State had the first scoring chance of the match in the fifth minute as Gabby Carlesent a ball down the right to Yujie Zhao and her cross found Kristina Lynch on the far post. The header from the freshman was blocked and cleared away.
Virginia’s first shot came in the 10th minute as Taryn Torres took a shot from the top of the box that was wide of the net.
The Seminoles got on the board in the 18th minute as Virginia was building its offense and played the ball back to goalkeeper Laurel Ivory and one of her controlling touches was too far in front of her. Deyna Castellanos took advantage and easily kicked the ball into the net for a 1-0 FSU lead.
It marked the first goal scored by Florida State at Klöckner Stadium since October 8, 2011 when Tori Huster forced overtime with a goal in the 90th minute.
FSU goalkeeper Brooke Bollinger made three great saves over the final 20 minutes of the first half to keep the Cavaliers off the board. Virginia earned a free kick from 25 yards in the 28th minute and the shot from Ayan Adu needed a leaping punch to keep out of the net. On the ensuing corner kick, Virginia held possession and slid a ball in to Meghan McCool at the six-yard box and Bollinger dove to stop the shot.
UVA’s Adu found space in the 36th minute at the top of the box, but another diving save by Bollinger kept it out of the net.
The Seminoles made it 2-0 before intermission on a goal by Anna Patten in the 44th minute. Senior Megan Connolly slid a ball through the box for Natalia Kuikka, who made a great run up from the back line. Kuikka patiently allowed the UVA goalkeeper to move toward her and passed the ball to Patten to easily tap in the open net for her third goal of the season.
The Florida State defense stood strong throughout the second half to post its 11th shutout of the season. A Seminole foul gave Virginia a free kick from 20 yards on the left in the 51st minute and Malia Berkely blocked the initial service and and cleared the ball, and also blocked a shot by Alexa Spaanstra a minute later.
Virginia managed three corners in the 58th and 59th minutes, but were unable to take a shot on any of the opportunities.
UVA’s Anna Sumpter worked into the box for a shot in the 70th minute, but it was not on goal. The best scoring chance for the Cavaliers down the stretch came in the 79th minute as Rebecca Jarrett got behind the Seminole defense and started a breakaway. Both Berkely and Kuikka caught up to her near the top of the penalty box and disrupted her run enough so that she was not able to take a shot and Bollinger easily collected the ball.
Virginia outshot the Noles, 13-10, and had a 7-1 advantage in corner kicks, while FSU had six shots on goal to UVA’s five.
The Seminoles will close out the 2018 regular season on Thursday, October 25 with a match at Miami (5-9-3, 2-6-1 ACC) which will begin at 7:00 p.m. The game will air on ACC Network Extra and links for the broadcast and live stats will be available on the soccer schedule page on Seminoles.com.
Throughout 2018-19, the Seminoles will be celebrating the 50th anniversary of women’s intercollegiate athletics at Florida State and there are many events and reunions planned for all women’s sports. Head to www.seminoles.com/50th/ for more information that will be updated throughout the year.
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