Seminoles wrap home slate with win

The 12th-ranked Florida State women's soccer team closed out its home schedule with its fourth straight win, a 4-1 triumph over Miami.

Mami Yamaguchi scored her nation-leading 17th goal of the season and freshman Sanna Talonen knocked in a pair to put FSU at 10-3-2 overall and 5-1-1 in the ACC. Talonen and Yamaguchi's goals all came in an explosive first half.

"The game was really a game of two different halves today," head coach Mark Krikorian said. "I thought we had very good control on the field in the first half with great movement off the ball.

"Overall I was pretty satisfied with our performance," he continued. "In the second half, I felt we laid back a little bit too much, but credit Miami for pressing us and scoring a goal to get back in the game. Fortunately, we were able to get that fourth goal to give us that needed cushion."

The Hurricanes cut the lead to two in the second half when freshman Brittney Steinbruch notched her team-leading 16th goal of the season. But FSU's Erika Sutton responded in the game's 65th minute with her fifth goal of the year.

Talonen's goals gave her 10 on the season, which put her in a tie with Camie Bybee for second on FSU's list for most goals by a freshman. She also moved into a tie for third all-time in points with 24 tying Kasey McCall.

Before the game, Florida State honored its four senior members as Sunday's game marked the final home regular season contest of the season. This year's senior class which included Libby Gianeskis, Holly Peltzer, Melissa Samokishyn and Kirsten van de Ven, currently rank as the winningest, four-year senior class in school history posting a career mark to date of 60-15-11. With today's win over Miami, they became just the second, four-year class to finish all four seasons with an above .500 league mark.

FSU returns to action Thursday as the Seminoles take on Wake Forest in Winston-Salem, N.C. at 7 p.m. The Seminoles have just three regular season games left before the ACC Tournament at Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex.

FSU leaps to wins over UNC, N.C. State

The Florida State women's volleyball team finally had another road trip to write home about. The Seminoles picked up their first road wins since September 1 with a five-set win over North Carolina on Friday and a three-set win over North Carolina State on Saturday. That pair of wins pushed FSU (8-11, 5-6 in the ACC) to a tie with the Tar Heels for sixth place in the conference.

The last time the Seminoles won an ACC road game before Friday was against Wake Forest on November 21, 2006.

FSU coach Todd Kress said there's no time to relax, even with a pair of wins.

"There is still a long season ahead of us," Kress said in a university release. "We're just now halfway through and there's still a long way to go. This team has no quit in them. They realize there is a second half to still go out there and accomplish some good things. Our motto right now is to play Florida State volleyball and get better every day."

The Seminoles won Saturday's game even without senior All-American Makini Thompson. Thompson, who had 21 kills in FSU's win over North Carolina, sat out the game with an injury, but the rest of the team rallied to sweep through the state.

Mira Djuric led FSU in kills once again with 18 and added four service aces. Sophomore Brianna Barry added 12 kills and Lauren Richardson added 10. Senior Summer Weissing recorded 20 digs.

"With Makini out with an injury the rest of the team rallied around the fact that we didn't have her," Kress said. "We had to have others pick it up tonight. Mira had a huge night; Brianna and Lauren Young all hit high numbers tonight. Those three really picked up the offensive numbers that we didn't usually have without Makini out there."

Florida State came back from a 2-1 deficit against North Carolina to secure the win. Djuric led the team with 25 kills.

"To get one on the road after being down 2-1 one is big," Kress said. We didn't play very well going into game three but we came back and pretty much controlled game four. Then we came back in game five after being down a few points and took the match. We put up a good fight."

The Seminoles travel to Miami on Tuesday before two straight at home against Virginia and Virginia Tech.

Connecting the dots...

The Florida State women's cross country team keeps making history, this time rising to No. 3 in the USTFCCCA national rankings, the highest position in program history, following the team's second-place performance at NCAA Pre-Nationals. FSU's runner-up nod got a major boost from sophomore All-American Susan Kuijken's first-place finish, which earned her a third ACC Performer of the Week award for the season. Florida State entered the Pre-Nationals race in Terre Haute, Ind., ranked No. 11 in the country, at that time the highest ranking in program history. The Seminoles finished just 21 points behind the defending national champions, No. 1 Stanford. Kuijken crossed the line at 19:56, the second-fastest 6K time in school history. FSU's next cross country race is the ACC Championships on October 27. … Florida State is set to host the 22nd Annual Garnet and Gold baseball game Thursday and Friday, November 1-2. The scrimmages will take place over two days and are open to the public. Veteran pitchers will throw on Thursday, November 1 beginning at 3:00 pm. The official Garnet and Gold game will be played Friday, November 2 at 6:00 pm. Both games will be played on Mike Martin Field at Dick Howser Stadium. Batting practice will take place an hour before each game. … The Florida State women's tennis team advanced in both singles and doubles competition at the ITA Southern Regionals in Athens, Ga. Freshmen Katie Rybakova and Federica Suess continued to dominate the singles competition as both moved on to the quarterfinals play in the "A" and "B" draws respectively. Senior Tapiwa Marobela also had a big win for the Seminoles in singles action today, notching a victory over Georgia's No. 22-ranked Monika Dancevic in the consolation draw. The final two rounds of the tournament had not been played as of press time.