Florida State takes third tournament title in four years

• by Soccer America , Nov 9, 2014

[ACC: Women] No. 2 Florida State won its third ACC women's title in the last four years with a 1-0 win over No. 4 Virginia on Carson Pickett's first goal of the season, a header off a cross from Cheyna Williams in the 17th minute.

The Seminoles (18-1-1) are all but assured of one of the four regional top seeds in the NCAA Women's Tournament, the draw for which will be held on Monday.

“This is why you want to go out and play,” Florida State head coach Mark Krikorian said. “You want to go out and play against the top competition in the country. Virginia is a fabulous team, and they are going to do a great job in the NCAA Tournament. We know that it isn’t easy to win this championship. All of the teams that play in this tournament are top 10 teams in the country.”

The Cavaliers (18-2-0) are likely on the bubble for the fourth No. 1 seed. They came into the week ranked only eighth in the RPI Index.

UCLA and Stanford, ranked No. 1 and No. 3 by Soccer America and No. 1 and No. 1 in the RPI Index, from the Pac-12 are the other likely top seeds.

Overall, Florida State outshot Virginia 12-8, marking the first time this season that the Cavaliers were outshot. Morgan Stearns made a career-high seven saves in goal for Virginia, while Casey Miller only made two at the other end for Florida State, but one of them was huge. She stopped Brittany Ratcliffe on a breakaway in the sixth minute.

The loss was Virginia had its eight-game win streak snapped. Its only other defeat was a 1-0 loss to FSU in Tallahassee on Sept. 28.