Florida State soccer rallies for third straight win over Florida - Tallahassee.com

Florida State soccer rallies for third straight win over Florida - Tallahassee.com

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The Seminoles rallied after falling behind for the third straight match to notch their third straight win over Florida. Curt Weiler, Tallahassee Democrat

It has been quite awhile since the Florida State soccer team lost three straight matches.

16 years, in fact, since FSU lost its first three matches of the 2003 season, two years before Mark Krikorian took over as head coach.

But that's exactly what the No. 5 Seminoles were staring down Friday as they sat on a two game losing streak and trailed the Florida Gators 1-0 early in the second half.

Buoyed by the home crowd of 3,154 fans at the Seminole Soccer Complex -- the fourth largest crowd in program history -- No. 5 FSU (3-2) rallied, leveling the score in the 57th minute and taking the lead in the 71st minute to rally for a 2-1 win over the Gators (2-3).

"It was more about coming out fully prepared and ready to compete against a really good team and I thought we did that," FSU head coach Mark Krikorian said.

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"That was the number one goal because I thought against UCLA and USC, we didn't do go out and compete as well as we need to. I thought tonight we brought it very, very well and overall, I think it was a good performance start to finish with limited hiccups here and there."

The win is FSU's third straight over the Gators and levels the all-time series at 13 wins each after UF won the first five games from 1995 through 1999.

"Any time you're playing a group like Florida and you win, it's a great feeling," Krikorian said.

"They're a very, very good team. They're going to win a lot of games and it was a hard-fought contest."

The Seminoles dominated throughout much of the game, outshooting UF 6-2 in the first half and 14-7 for the game, but conceded first for the third straight time Friday.

The Gators took the lead in the 53rd minute on a strike in the box by Tess Sapone.

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The Seminoles tied it up four minutes later on a defensive mishap by UF which gave FSU forward Kristen McFarland an open net for her to bury her first goal of the season.

FSU took the lead for good in the 71st minute as midfielder Jaelin Howell capped off an impressive run with a perfect cross that found sophomore Yujie Zhao, who buried her first goal of the season.

Bollinger rises up

While the Seminoles held onto the lead from there, that doesn't do justice of telling the odds FSU overcame to maintain its lead.

In the 80th minute, FSU goalkeeper Caroline Jeffers was assessed a red card by the head official after a video assisted review on a play in the box where she caught an incoming cross and stepped onto a UF attacker who was on the ground.

The red card sent Jeffers off and gave the Gators a penalty kick that could level the score and backup goalkeeper Brooke Bollinger had to come in to defend it.

Despite the pressure and her freshness, Bollinger was up to the difficult task, diving to her right to deny UF's Parker Roberts and maintain the lead.

"It was a lot of chaos at first, a lot of nerves," Bollinger said of her thought process in the hectic situation.

"But as soon as I got in, I was confident and just ready."

No film study went into her improbable stop. It was simply good guesswork and impressive athleticism to deny the ball low in the bottom corner that appeared destined for the back of the net.

While it was Bollinger's first action of the 2019 season, she started 20 games as a redshirt freshman in 2018 before suffering a season-ending injury.

This experience helped her thrive in the nervy moment.

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"It was amazing," sophomore midfielder Jaelin Howell said of the save.

"To come in off the red card, high emotion with this great crowd, for her to make save, she's player of the game. It was amazing. We're lucky to have her."

McFarland the Gator Killer

Hailing from Powell, Ohio, McFarland didn't grow up around the Florida State-Florida rivalry.

That hasn't stopped her from making a name for herself in the rivalry.

A year after she scored an 88th minute game-winner to give FSU a 1-0 win over the Gators, she scored against UF for the second consecutive year Friday.

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With the Seminoles trailing 1-0 in the 57th minute, McFarland made the most of a major mental mistake from UF goalkeeper Susi Espinoza.

Espinoza led the ball bounce by her, assuming McFarland was offside. She wasn't, play continued and McFarland pounced on the prime chance.

"McFarland's a warrior. She comes out and competes, does her best every time," Krikorian said.

"She's the kind of kid that every coach loves because you know you're going to get the best effort and she was rewarded with hard work again today."

Of her 12 career goals in 52 starts, two of them have come in three games against the Gators.

Up Next

The Seminoles stay at home through the weekend. They'll host the Samford Bulldogs Sunday at 1 p.m.

2019-09-07 01:15:00Z
https://www.tallahassee.com/story/sports/college/fsu/2019/09/06/florida-state-soccer-uf-gators-seminoles-fsu-brooke-bollinger-kristen-mcfarland-mark-krikorian/2187483001/

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