The Florida State women’s soccer team has stormed through the NCAA tournament and is knocking on the door of another national championship.
On Black Friday, in front of a packed Seminole Soccer Complex, the Seminoles welcomed the Ohio State for a frigid night match under the lights for the right to go to Kansas City to compete in the final four of the women’s collegiate soccer championship.
The Seminoles flexed their muscles and remained hot as they smashed the Buckeyes 4-1.
“Super proud of our team and we just talked about the standard here at Florida State and the college cup every year,” FSU coach Brian Pensky said. “It’s a very high standard and it’s not easy to achieve. These players need to be very proud of themselves because coming through this conference, playing in the league we play in, playing the competition we play and having to go on the road last weekend, it’s all a big challenge.”
The early going in the match was back and forth with the Seminoles (14-2-4, 6-2-2) threatening a few times but nothing to show for it. All of that changed in the 35th minute when a sprinting junior forward Jordynn Dudley received a tremendous pass from freshmen midfielder Nawreen Ahmad inside the box and collided with Buckeye goalkeeper Molly Pritchard. Dudley was able to kick the ball enough for it to get past Pritchard and reach the back of the net just before the collision to give the Garnet and Gold an early 1-0 lead.
This would be Dudley’s 10th goal on the season, at least for the time being as Dudley scored an emphatic goal not long after when she broke away from two Buckeye defenders in the 39th minute and delivered a strike to the corner of the net to give Florida State a 2-0 lead.
The Seminoles were cruising with just a half of soccer away from going to Kansas City. The Buckeyes (11-5-6, 4-2-5) would not go quietly into the cold Tallahassee night. In the 49th minute, Buckeye midfielder Amanda Schlueter blasted a goal from outside the box to cut the lead in half. The Buckeyes had gained a little momentum, but it wasn’t for long. Freshmen forward Nyanya Touray delivered the best pass of the night as she sent a beautiful ball past four defenders to a sprinting junior midfielder Yuna McCormack, who finished it off with an easy goal. With the score now 3-1, FSU looked to have Kansas City in their sights.
“She scored a massive goal,” Pensky said of McCormack. "Nyanya played a phenomenal well-weighted, accurate ball and a great run from Yuna and a composed finished.”
The Seminoles would tack on a Wrianna Hudson goal in the 84th minute that would be the final nail in the coffin that is the Buckeyes season.
The atmosphere was electric at the Plex on Friday night. The Marching Chiefs were in attendance, and every seat was occupied by eager soccer fans of the Garnet and Gold. There was a good contingent of Buckeyes fans who were loud and vocal there as well, but their support clearly wasn’t enough. With the victory on Friday night, this officially ends the home schedule for the 2025 season. For seniors like Heather Gilchirst, this would be her last home game at Florida State.
“It's really meant so much,” Gilchrist said. “Getting another game at home, we’re really thankful for that, getting to play in front of our amazing fans and the Marching Chiefs is such a good environment and atmosphere.”
As the Seminoles march on to the final four, they will be accompanied by two fellow ACC schools who also punched their ticket to Kansas City. Duke and Stanford will play each other for the right to go to the championship where they would face the winner of the FSU game. The Seminoles will know their opponent on Nov. 29 when Vanderbilt plays TCU. FSU was eliminated by Vanderbilt last year in the tournament, a loss that still haunts the team.
The Seminoles are right where they want to be and they are right where they expected to be, which is competing for a national championship next weekend.
“Less is more,” Pensky said. "We’ve just got to keep doing the things that we’ve done well and the less that’s in players’ brains at this time of the year, and therefore less thinking and more trusting themselves and trusting the things that we’ve been doing, and they can play fast and we are best when we are playing fast.”
FSU is slated to play its semifinal game on Friday.
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