Florida State Upsets UNC On PKs

The last time FSU and UNC played, the Seminoles outshot the Tar Heels and recorded a series-high four shots on goal. They lost that game 4-1. Friday night it was the Heels who dominated the stats, but FSU who is going to its second College Cup in the last three years. After a 1-1 tie, No. 11 FSU (20-3-1) eliminated the second-ranked Tar Heels (23-1-1) 5-4 in a penalty kick shootout. India Trotter scored FSU‚s lone goal in the 1-1 tie and Minna Pyykko saved Heather O’Reilly’s PK in the shootout to help eliminate the Tar Heels.

Portland eliminated defending national champion Notre Dame 3-1 to reach the College Cup semifinals, while Virginia was shutout 5-0 by 2004 runnerup UCLA. The fourth semifinal spot goes to Penn State, which edged Santa Clara 2-1.

“I want to congratulate one of our conference rivals, Florida State, for making it to the final four,” said UNC Head Coach Anson Dorrance. “They never gave up in this game all the way to taking the penalty kicks. Obviously, we are disappointed not to advance because I feel we played very well today. Better than the first time we played Florida State.”

“We knew coming in that it would be a difficult game and difficult to establish a rhythm,” said FSU’s first year head coach Mark Krikorian. “I’m proud of our kids. I thought our effort was outstanding. We’re pleased to move on. UNC dominated for most of the game, but our kids hung in there.”

North Carolina came into the match 57-2 all-time at home in the NCAA Tournament and 17-1 lifetime versus FSU but it was the Seminoles who will advance despite the lopsided stats. The Tar Heels held a 31-7 edge in shots, a 10-1 edge in corners and put 19 shots on goal compared to just three for FSU but redshirt-junior goalkeeper Ali Mims was phenomenal all night. The Ponte Vedra Beach, FL native, in her first full season since more than 20 surgeries to repair a broken tibia in 2001, recorded a career high 13 saves in the victory.

The dream of reaching the 2005 College Cup started early for FSU as just 8:25 into the match the Seminoles jumped on top. Trotter’s fifth goal of the NCAA Tournament was her second of the season versus the Heels and it put FSU up 1-0.

Florida State held the lead for 47:59 following the goal, their longest lead ever in the series. The Heels than began to pressure and nearly evened the match. Following a UNC corner the Tar Heels had multiple shots on goal inside the six -ard box that the FSU defenders kept turning away. The ball almost crossed the Seminole goal line on more than one occasion but the Heels were unable to poke the ball in.

Less than 12 minutes into the second half Kendall Fletcher evened the match on a header at the back post.

After Tar Heels tied the game 1-1 on Fletchers‚ goal in the 57th minute, neither team could break the deadlock for the next 33 minutes. Despite being out shot 31-7 for the game the match moved into overtime for just the second time in 19 meetings between the schools with the last coming in 1995. The Seminoles entered the match 2-0 in OT in 2005 and 2-0-1 all-time in overtime in the NCAA Tournament.

Florida State will now take on another No. 1 seed in UCLA (21-1-2) who defeated Virginia 5-0 in Los Angeles Friday night. The game will be played Friday, December 2 at 4:30 pm EST and will be shown live on ESPNU. A tape delayed broadcast will be shown on ESPN2 Saturday at 2:00 p.m.