Noles null NC State

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Second-ranked Florida State (15-1-1, 8-0-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) rolled to its 14th consecutive victory with a 4-0 win against NC State (2-13-2, 0-9-0) Sunday afternoon at Dail Soccer Field.

FSU struck early and never looked back as Cheyna Williams found the back of the net less than two minutes into the match for her eighth goal of the season. Williams took a pass from Hikaru Murakami, turned quickly to her left and made one dribble forward before blasting a shot into the upper left corner from 25 yards out.

The Seminoles pushed their lead to 2-0 in the 23rd minute on a finish from close range by Emma Koivisto. The goal was created off a Megan Campbell throw-in as her long pass found the head of Kristin Grubka, who flicked the ball behind her as Koivisto timed her run perfectly into the box with a sliding finish for her second goal of the season.

Florida State took a 3-0 lead as Berglind Thorvaldsdottir sent a pass forward to Dagny Brynjarsdottir, who lofted the ball over a Wolfpack defender right to her own foot, one-timing a blast under the crossbar from inside the 18-yard box for her team-leading 11th goal of the season.

Brynjarsdottir notched her second goal of the match in the 63rd minute thanks to some nice passing by Murakami and Michaela Hahn to create the scoring chance. Following an NC State foul, Campbell sent the free kick inside the goal box to Hahn who then slipped the pass to Murakami. Murakami then dribbled the ball toward the end line before passing across the goal box to a wide open Brynjarsdottir for the score.

“I thought our play was good and solid from start to finish,” Florida State head coach Mark Krikorian said. “It was nice to come out and score an early goal to gain the momentum right away. Our kids managed the game well with good attacking and defending throughout the match.”

NC State’s lone shot in the first half came off the foot of Alexa Allen as she tried to catch Cassie Miller off her line with a long distance shot following a Florida State turnover. But Miller was there for the save to keep the Wolfpack off the scoreboard.

Florida State finished the match with a 19-4 shot advantage on the Wolfpack as 13 of FSU’s 19 shots went on goal.

Miller recorded three saves, playing all 90 minutes in goal for the Seminoles to earn her 11th shutout of the season.