FSU Wins Matchup Between Top Two Teams
The ACC championship trophy was not on the line when the top two ranked teams in the nation squared off. But still, it was a game of great significance.
The #1 ranked Florida State Seminoles got a first-half goal from Jamia Fields, and opened the conference season with a 1-0 victory over #2 Duke.
With the win the Seminoles (7-0-0) continued their dominance over the Blue Devils at home, winning for the sixth straight time in Tallahassee.
“That was one heck of a game,’ said FSU head coach Mark Krikorian. “Again, another team came in here, fought us as hard as we could deal with and I thought our kids were resilient and fought hard.”
It was the second loss of the year for Duke (6-2-0), runnerup for the 2011 national championship. It also marked the first action for FSU junior defender Kassey Kallman and Duke’s Mollie Pathman and Kelly Cobb, who were members of the victorious U.S. U-20 World Cup team.
The game-winner came off the left foot of the California sophomore, who fired the shot from the top of the 18-yard box into the upper left corner for her first goal of the season.
“That is a top quality goal,” said Krikorian. “She took it very well. No goalkeeper in the nation saves that one.”
“It feels great,” said Fields on the Seminoles’ perfect start, “but we don’t look at it as though we haven’t lost yet. We aren’t getting too excited about it. We are taking one game at a time.”
The game was played before a capacity crowd of 2,3000 inside the Seminole Soccer Complex. With seven wins the start the season, FSU tied the school record for its best start in school history, a mark originally set during Krikorian’s first season in 2005.
The outcome of the first league game of the season doesn’t necessarily preview the way the season could play out, especially with the number of talented teams in the ACC. But one might get the impression that the FSU coach thinks his team might face Duke again somewhere down the road.
“Duke is a darn good team,” said Krikorian. “They are going to win a lot of games in this conference, and we are as well.”
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