11/24/2023 other sports Edit

FSU soccer onslaught beats Pitt, moves team into 4th straight College Cup

Curt Weiler • TheOsceola

Senior Writer

For the fourth straight year, the Florida State soccer team is headed to the College Cup.

The top-seeded Seminoles (20-0-1) beat the Pittsburgh Panthers (14-5-1) 3-0 at the Seminole Soccer Complex to advance to the College Cup for the 14th time in program history.

The final score was hardly indicative of how competitive much of Friday's matchup was. The Seminoles didn't find the net until the 63rd minute when a Pitt handball awarded FSU a penalty kick which Taylor Huff buried in the bottom-left corner of the net.

Once FSU broke through, it added a second goal just over five minutes later on another penalty kick, this time by graduate transfer Leah Pais against her former team, after a Pitt foul in the box. The third goal came less than a minute after that when Onyi Echegini got the rebound on a saved shot by Jordynn Dudley, taking it wide and shooting it into the net.

"Really proud of our team. We knew it was going to be a tough game. Going into halftime 0-0, not unfamiliar territory..." FSU head coach Brian Pensky said. "Just kept plugging away, defended well. Never really gave them a clean look, we had a couple of clean looks. Obviously, goals change games."

In all, the Seminoles scored their three goals in a matter of six minutes and five seconds of game time.

"I love playing with these guys," Echegini said. "Like you can see, when we get going, it's like a chain reaction of we score and we score."

Overall, FSU outscored its four opponents by a combined score of 14-0 in its home NCAA Tournament matches on the path to the College Cup, which is being held at the WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, N.C. on Dec. 1 (semifinals) and Dec. 4 (championship match).

The Seminoles are now 58-2-1 in home NCAA Tournament matches all-time, outscoring those opponents by a combined margin of 173-23.

While this will be FSU's fourth straight College Cup appearance, it will be the first for Pais, freshman star Jordynn Dudley and a number of other Seminoles.

"It's an amazing experience that very few athletes get to say they're a part of," Pais said. "To be here on this team, it's all a dream coming true. We've got to just keep picking away."

FSU finished Friday's match -- its third this season against the Panthers after beating them in the regular season and the ACC Semifinals -- with a 20-13 advantage in shots and 9-5 in shots on goal.

The first half in particular was quite testy, with 12 total fouls between the two teams and 15 total shots (FSU had nine shots to Pitt's five). The Seminoles definitely had the more dangerous chances over the opening 45 minutes, forcing Pitt goalkeeper Ellie Breech to make three first-half saves and six over the entire match.

FSU goalkeeper Cristina Roque finished with five saves in the match and has 13 saves in four NCAA Tournament matches so far. She's allowed just one goal in her last eight matches.

The Seminoles will play the winner of the Clemson-Penn State quarterfinal match, which will be played Saturday afternoon at Clemson, in the College Cup Semifinals next Friday.

"They're both phenomenal teams and phenomenal coaches. No matter who it is, it's a tall task," Pensky said. "It could be a Penn State team that has a national championship in their pocket. Erica Walsh does an amazing job there and she'll continue to do an amazing job there. And then if it's Clemson, it'll be another case of an ACC foe and another team that we have to beat for a third time. Either way, we'll be ready, but we'll also know it's a big, big challenge."