No. 7 FSU soccer upset at Boston College

(7) Florida State (8-2-1, 1-2 ACC) fell to Boston College (10-0-0, 2-0 ACC) by a 2-1 score today in Newton, MA.

Boston College started out well in this game as they had the majority of the possession in the first half.

In the 30th minute BC’s Jillian Jennings sent a pass to Olivia Vaughn. Natalia Kuikka intercepted the ball and made a back pass to keeper Brooke Bollinger. Bollinger stopped the ball with her hands. This is a violation of the back pass rule. The Eagles were therefore entitled to take a (very rare) indirect free kick from inside the box. Vaughn took it immediately hoping to catch the Noles off guard. She slipped the ball to Jenna Bike. Bike’s first shot was blocked back to her by Bollinger. Bike regrouped for a second shot but it went wide.

In the 51st minute Jaelin Howell’s pass was intercepted by the Eagles. The turnover allowed Jenna Bike to slip past FSU’s defenders. Kuikka committed a professional foul as she reached out and grabbed Bike’s arm pulling her to the ground and causing Bike’s shot to go well wide. This was clearly a foul and Kuikka was very lucky that she didn’t get a card. To be clear, Kuikka did the right thing by committing the foul to stop a one on one chance against the keeper. Her mistake was that she waited too long to commit it and let Bike get too close to the 18 yard box. Therefore, the question is whether the foul occurred in the box. The referee initially seemed to indicate that it didn’t but the call was changed and BC was awarded a penalty kick. It was very close and the referee was trailing the play because of the turnover and therefore may not have gotten a good look at it but it seems like the foul occurred just barely outside the box. In any event Gaby Carreiro stepped up and took the kick. Even though Bollinger guessed correctly the ball went under her diving attempt to stop it and the Eagles had a 1-0 lead.

In the 74th minute the Noles answered. Kaycie Tillman passed the ball to Gloriana Villalobos inside the box. Villalobos was tripped inside the box by Kayla Duran. The referee awarded a penalty kick which was buried by Deyna Castellanos. The score was tied at 1-1.

Boston College took the lead back almost immediately. in the 75th minute Bike struck again. Emily Langenderfer released Bike with a beautiful pass from BC’s side of the field. Bike got behind the Seminole defense. Bollinger came off her line to cut down Bike’s angle but Bike was able to chip the ball over Bollinger’s head to give the Eagles a 2-1 lead.

Jenna Bike gave FSU fits all day with her speed but the true MVP for the Eagles was goalkeeper Alexis Bryant. The redshirt senior made at least three brilliant saves that preserved the victory for BC.

Boston College had the lion share of the possession in the first half up until the first goal. That goal seemed to wake up the Noles and they finally started to play more like they have all season. Unfortunately for FSU a combination of a little bit of bad luck and a sterling performance from Bryant doomed the Seminoles.

Florida State will attempt to regroup on Thursday, September 27th as they travel to South Bend to face Notre Dame (5-5, 1-1 ACC) at 5:30pm. The game will be broadcast on ACC Network Extra.