FSU Soccer set to begin quest for second straight national title

There was a speed bump in the middle of the season when they lost two straight games, but since that moment, it could be argued there hasn’t been a better women’s soccer team in the country than the Florida State Seminoles.

And at 5 p.m. on Friday at the Florida State soccer complex, the reigning national champions begin their quest for a second straight title when they host Samford in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

“We pretty much got bullied all weekend (in the back-to-back losses to Wake Forest and Virginia Tech) and that’s when we talked about our back line and we changed that, and we’ve become a more physical team,” Florida State head coach Brian Pensky told reporters this week. “We need those wide kids to be good in the air and embrace every moment of touching and scratching and clawing each other.

“Championship are won by women, not little girls. And we’ll continue to echo that theme with all of our players.”

This team has already won one championship, of course.

The Seminoles (14-2-3) beat Notre Dame at home in the ACC quarterfinals, then dispatched of Wake Forest in the semifinals and North Carolina in the title game to win a fifth straight conference championship.

All three of those teams were ranked in the Top 15 when the Seminoles beat them, and both Wake and North Carolina were ranked in the Top 5.

The Tar Heels are actually the No. 2 seed in Florida State’s region, so if both teams win their first three games of the NCAA Tournament, they would meet in Tallahassee for the right to return to Cary, N.C., for the College Cup.

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Pensky is hoping there’s some symmetry there considering what the Seminoles just accomplished last week.

“What was so important about beating Notre Dame was it was an ACC quarterfinal, but it was here,” he said. “It’s different. And we earned the right to go to Cary. And Cary is where the College Cup is. It’s a big venue, it’s a deal, it feels real. And if you look at it, we had three goals on Sunday. One from a freshman in (Wrianna Hudson), one from a freshman in (Taylor) Suarez, and the penalty was drawn by another freshman in (Ashlyn) Puerta.”

So, to his point, even though his newcomers haven’t played in an NCAA Tournament game before, even though they haven’t felt the pressure of a do-or-die postseason match, he thinks they’ll adjust just fine to what’s ahead.

Starting Friday evening against a Samford team that is 12-6-3 on the season.

“I think they’re going to be OK,” Pensky said of his talented freshmen. “And I think our focus is just on the game, on soccer and on playing and getting lost in the tactics in what we need to do and not the event.”

The winner of the Florida State-Samford match will play the winner of the 8-9 game between Vanderbilt and Lipscomb next Friday.

Because they secured a No. 1 seed in their region, the Seminoles will play at home for the first four rounds of the Tournament as long as they keep winning.

Talk about this story with other die-hard Florida State football fans on the Tribal Council.