No. 19 Virginia Tech Women Lose to Florida State, 1-0

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The No. 19 Virginia Tech women’s soccer team fell to top-ranked Florida State, 1-0, Thursday night Florida State’s Soccer Complex. Hikaru Murakami’s first-half goal was the deciding factor as the Seminoles continue to be the only undefeated team in the nation (13-0-0) and 6-0-0 in the ACC. The Hokies fell to 11-4-0 overall and 2-4-0 in the conference.

“Tonight was a difficult game and I think Florida State is a very good team and there is a reason why they are the No. 1 team in the country right now,” commented head coach Chugger Adair. “It was a challenge for us tonight and it was an opportunity we were looking forward to. We didn’t do a good job defending in the first half. I think we gave up way too many corners and set pieces. We got ourselves backed up against a wall and unfortunately gave up the early goal.”

Florida State took control quickly and attacked early taking 11 shots in the first. The Hokies found just two opportunities, but Florida State’s goalkeeper Kelsey Wys was there to stop the one shot on goal taken by Shannon Mayrose 12 minutes in.

The Seminoles found the back of the net at the 26:18 mark when Murakami was fed the ball by Jamia Fields and fired one about 25 yards out. The ball hit the crossbar and bounced in past Dayle Colpitts in goal for the game-winner.

The first half closed out with the Seminoles having the 11-2 shot advantage and took eight corners, while Tech recorded one.

The Hokies jumped out in the second trying to make opportunities but the No. 1 defense in the nation held on to the 1-0 lead for the remainder of the game. Tech’s closest chance to tying the score at one was when Jazmine Reeves took a header in the box, but it just went over the crossbar at the 78:45 mark.

“The second half was much better. We tightened things up and were a lot more organized and gave up less. However, we didn’t create as much until the last few minutes. We tried to push the game and unfortunately the result went against us. But we are looking forward to a good hard fought match against Miami on Sunday.”

Time became a factor as the Hokies’ offense tried to make chances but just couldn’t find an opening. Tech’s defense played very solid limiting the Seminole offense to just four shots on goal.  

Colpitts took the loss and fell to 6-4-0, while stopping three shots. Wys improved to 12-0-0 with the win and recorded one stop for the Seminoles. Two Seminoles recorded a game-high four shots, while Mayrose, Anne Lumpkin and Reeves recorded shots for the Hokies.

Tech is back in action when it travels further south for a 1 p.m. matchup against Miami Sunday afternoon.