[OREGON STATE-FLORIDA STATE] Tiffany McCarty and Jessica Price, who both sat outthe 2010 seasons with medical redshirts, showed why they are one of the nation’s top duos, combining for the only goal to give No. 4 Florida State a 1-0 win over No. 13 Oregon State Friday night infront of a packed crowd of 1,127 in Corvallis.
After a scoreless first half, FSU finally found the back of the net in the 52nd minute thanks to McCarty’s 29th career goal. Price weavedher way inside the middle of the field before slipping a pass into McCarty, who sent a lower liner that went through the legs of Oregon State goalkeeper ColleenBoyd and inside the left post for the only score of the game.
“The goal felt good,” said McCarty. “We had a lot of chances tonight which was frustrating but we ended up with thewin in the end.”
The assist for Price was the 17th of her career and marked the ninth time since 2009 that McCarty and Price have combined to score a goal.
“It’s fantastic tohave them back,” said FSU coach Mark Krikorian. “Jess made a great turn, slipped a nice ball through and Tiff ran onto it and finished it nicely. My hope isthat we are going to see a lot more of that this year.”
The Seminole backline of Toni Pressley, KasseyKallman, Tiana Brockway and Ines Jaurena was solid. Goalie Kelsey Wysmade seven saves to earn the shutout.
“Overall, I thought our performance was pretty good,” added Krikorian. “We created a number of good chances, but the quality of the finishes aroundthe box was not good enough. The good news is that we did not give up a great deal of chances tonight. Oregon State is a good team. Their front kids are really dangerous; they are athletic, dynamic intheir movements and make good passes as well. We feel very good about coming out of this first game with a win against a very good Oregon State team.”
OSU coach Linus Rhode saw some positives in playing a quality opponent.
“I think our defensive overall did a really good job,” he said.”We gave away shots from long distances thatweren’t very threatening to our goalkeeper. I think offensively we need to figure out how to break teams down.”