The No. 17 Florida State women’s soccer team closed out its home schedule on Friday night in a heavyweight ACC matchup with No. 4 North Carolina.
The stands were packed with Seminole fans and a large student contingent to see the visiting Tar Heels who, like FSU, have been a perennial soccer powerhouse.
Last year’s game had the ’Noles and ’Heels end in a tie, but Friday night was a different story. FSU handled the Tar Heels by a final score of 4-2, marking their fourth consecutive win of the season.
“This game was a microcosm of our season,” FSU coach Brian Penskey said. “Things are going well, feeling pretty good, up 2-0, get punched in the face twice. Now it’s about how do we respond at halftime and do we have the emotional and physical energy to take the game back. This was a very connected team win.”
The game started with an intense back and forth for the first 10 minutes. Each team was feeling each other out but neither team could get anything going.
In the 19th minute, sophomore forward Jordynn Dudley deflected a ball inside the box that looked to bounce in for a goal. As the ball bounced slowly and crossed the threshold, a North Carolina defender dived into the goal and kicked the ball away before it could hit the back of the net. After review, the goal was confirmed, and Florida State took an early lead 1-0.
The Seminoles seized momentum soon after Dudley’s goal when freshman forward Solai Washington stole a routine ball on a breakaway near the scoring box. As North Carolina keeper Clare Gagne sprinted towards the ball, Washington sidestepped her and drilled a goal to extend FSU's lead to 2-0 in the 22nd minute.
The Tar Heels would not go quietly into the Tallahassee night though. UNC midfielder Aria Nagai scored a goal off a corner kick deflection in the 33rd minute to put the Heels on the board. In an instant, Florida State was pressed with another corner kick from North Carolina. In almost the exact same scenario, Nagai scored another goal off a deflected corner kick, tying the game at 2-2 in the 35th minute.
The Seminoles and Tar Heels were tied going into halftime in what was shaping up to be a great second half.
The crowd came alive when Solai Washington scored her second goal of the game in the 51st minute when she broke free from her defender and sprinted towards the box. Washington was active all night and had multiple opportunities to complete the hat trick, but it wasn’t meant to be.
The ’Noles were up 3-2. But against a good team like North Carolina no lead is safe. The Garnet and Gold kept up the defensive pressure for the remainder of the game and played with serious passion on senior night. This proved to be too much for the Tar Heels, as a lazy pass was intercepted by Jordynn Dudley — who performed a clinic of moves to score her second goal of the game and extend Florida State's lead to 4-2 in the 66th minute, a lead they would not relinquish.
The Seminoles now look to close out their regular season at rival Miami on Halloween at 6 p.m.
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