Box Score
CARY, N.C. (theACC.com) - Headlined by a pair of goals in the first six minutes of the match, top-seeded Florida State earned a 3-2 victory against second-seeded North Carolina Sunday afternoon at WakeMed Soccer Park to claim the 2020 Atlantic Coast Conference women’s soccer championship.
With the win, the Seminoles earned their seventh ACC Tournament Title and second in the last three years.
The Tar Heels (11-1) and Seminoles (11-0) were ranked No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, throughout the duration of the season in the United Soccer Coaches poll. Additionally, both teams finished ACC regular-season play unbeaten and were tabbed regular season co-champions.
“There is no one out there that has more respect for what Anson (Dorrance), his staff and his school have done for the growth of women’s soccer than I have,” said Florida State head coach Mark Krikorian. “The opportunity to come in here, in North Carolina and play against UNC again in a final is great for us. We were all treated to a very hard-working, competitive game between two good teams.
“Fortunately, we were able to come out and establish a couple of goals early in the game. Then came out in the second half and scored another goal. For me, I am proud of our team. I thought they played very well and brought the competitive spirit that is necessary to win championships. We feel great that as a conference we got to this point during the time of COVID.”
Florida State opened the game on fire, as tournament MVP Clara Robbins scored twice within the first six minutes. She found the back of the net just one minute and 19 seconds into the game, as she headed in a corner from LeiLanni Nesbeth to give the Seminoles a 1-0 lead.
A few minutes later, the Stafford, Virginia, native fired a strike from just outside the box to push the Florida State advantage to 2-0.
Shortly after the start of the second half, the ‘Noles extended their lead to 3-0 following a goal from Nesbeth. Robbins made a great pass to Nesbeth to log the assist, as she contributed to all three FSU goals.
North Carolina ended the shutout bid in the 58th minute, as Rachel Jones converted the penalty kick to make it 3-1. Brianna Pinto headed in a goal at the 88th minute mark to trim the margin to 3-2, but the Seminoles held off the late effort to clinch the victory.
“I want to congratulate Mark (Krikorian) and Florida State on the win,” said North Carolina head coach Anson Dorrance. “I thought they came in with a fabulous game plan. It’s always interesting for me to see how they’re going to attack, because they have all kinds of weapons and the way attacked us was direct.
“They were playing balls over the top and they did it successfully right out of the gate. It was very difficult for us to manage their game plan and if we did, they also did a great job of possessing the ball in our half. They’re a tremendously difficult team to play against.”
Florida State held a 9-8 margin on shots in the game, including a 6-5 advantage for shots on goal.
2020 ACC Women’s Soccer All-Tournament Team
Clara Robbins, Florida State (MVP)
Jaelin Howell, Florida State
Jenna Nighswonger, Florida State
Malia Berkely, Florida State
Cristina Roque, Florida State
Claudia Dickey, North Carolina
Brianna Pinto, North Carolina
Emily Fox, North Carolina
Sophie Jones, Duke
Diana Ordonez, Virginia
Alexa Spaanstra, Virginia