FSU Soccer to play for national title after shutting out Stanford

FSU soccer becomes the first team to beat the Cardinal in 45 games as the Seminoles will get a chance to play for their second national title Sunday.

On a cold evening in the state of North Carolina, the FSU soccer team was out for revenge as they played in the 10th College Cup in program history against a Stanford Cardinal team that not only was the defending champs and hadn’t lose since August of 2017, but was also the team that knocked the Lady Noles out of last year’s tournament.

90 game minutes later, it is the garnet and gold that will be playing another game for a chance to win the second title in the 24 season history of the program after FSU soccer blanked the defending champs 2-0 to advance to the national title game against ACC foe North Carolina.

The scoring started for the Lady Noles in the 29th minute when Gabby Carle took it from the sideline into the middle of the field as the Canadian native got her first goal of the season at a big time.

In the 42nd minute, it was another FSU soccer player getting her first goal of the season when Ohio native Malia Berkely sent a nice bending shot that went off the fingertips of the Cardinal keeper for the game’s second goal.

As it turned out, those would be more than enough to stop a Stanford team who had trailed for less than eight game minutes the entire season heading into this game as Caroline Jeffers came up with some big moments on the night as the Orlando native finished with one save on six Stanford shots.

FSU soccer will now be making their fourth appearance in the national title game, losing to USC in 2007 and UCLA in 2013 before defeating Virginia in 2014 for the program’s only national championship.

North Carolina has been the gold standard in women’s soccer history, winning 21 of the 36 national titles in the sport but last winning one in 2012. The Tar Heels defeated Georgetown in double overtime to advance to Sunday’s championship.

It will be the third time playing the Tar Heels this season, as North Carolina won 1-0 on September 14th in Tallahassee while the Lady Noles got revenge in the ACC title game with a 3-2 victory on the same field where Sunday’s title game will take place.