Noles News: FSU soccer dominates All-ACC awards, teams

Recruiting

Class of 2024 commitments

QUARTERBACK: 4 star Luke Kromenhoek (GA)

RUNNING BACK: 4 star Kam Davis (GA)

RUNNING BACK: 4 star Micahi Danzy (FL)

WIDE RECEIVER: 4 star Camdon Frier (FL)

WIDE RECEIVER: 4 star Lawayne McCoy (FL)

WIDE RECEIVER: 4 star BJ Gibson (GA)

WIDE RECEIVER: 4 star Elijah Moore (MD)

TIGHT END: 5 star Landen Thomas (GA)

OFFENSIVE LINEMAN: 4 star Jonathan Daniels (FL)

OFFENSIVE LINEMAN: 3 star Tye Hylton (FL)

OFFENSIVE LINEMAN: 4 star Manasse Itete (CA)

OFFENSIVE LINEMAN: 3 star Jayden Todd (GA)

DEFENSIVE LINEMAN: 5 star Armondo Blount

DEFENSIVE LINEMAN: 4 star DD Holmes (DC)

DEFENSIVE LINEMAN: 3 star Jamorie Flagg (FL)

LINEBACKER: 3 star Jayden Parrish (FL)

LINEBACKER: 3 star Timir Hickman-Collins (SC)

DEFENSIVE BACK: 5 star KJ Bolden (GA)

DEFENSIVE BACK: 5 star Charles Lester III (FL)

DEFENSIVE BACK: 4 star Ricky Knight III (FL)

DEFENSIVE BACK: 3 star CJ Heard (GA)

KICKER: 3 star Jake Weinberg (FL)

Football

No. 4 Florida State is hyper-focused on its upcoming matchup against the Pitt Panthers, with the knowledge that a major season goal — claiming a spot in the ACC Championship — is achievable with a win.

Wednesday saw the Seminoles, as is weekly custom, rep situational drills with Jordan Silversmith bringing you insight from the day’s work:

Mike Norvell knows his team needs to strive for perfection — in all aspects.

“I want every play to look and execute to the standard that we operate...those plays that if you miss out on them, those can be remembered in a really bad way.”

The Seminoles did not look burdened by the committee’s opinion on a chilly Wednesday morning. Today was the usual situational day, where the offense and defense competed in one-minute drill, third down, and red zone. The defense forced a stop early in the day, with the offense gaining their stride as Wednesday wore on.

Another week, another survey for you fine folks to answer — this time:

• Does FSU have the best offensive playcallers in the ACC (Mike Norvell, Alex Atkins)?
• Does defensive coordinator Adam Fuller deserve more credit?

Florida State leads the ACC and ranks 11th in the country in red zone offense, converting 93.9 percent of red zone drives into points, and its 24 red zone touchdowns are 2nd in the conference. FSU also ranks 16th nationally in red zone defense, allowing points on just 73.1 percent of opponents’ drives that reach the 20-yard line.

Florida State’s defense has faced 49 plays inside their 10-yard line this season and allowed just 11 touchdowns. FSU is also the only team in the nation forcing more incompletions than completions allowed and is leading the country in both fewest passing touchdowns allowed (3) and opponent completion percentage (49.4) and ranks 5th in opponent passer rating (101.59).

Florida State junior wide receiver Keon Coleman has been added to the Maxwell Award midseason watch list:

Coleman, from Opelousas, Louisiana, leads Florida State with 38 catches, 538 receiving yards and nine receiving touchdowns. He has added 198 yards on 20 punt returns in 2023.

Coleman’s nine touchdown catches lead the ACC, are fifth nationally and the most for a Seminole since 2019. He has three multi-touchdown games this season – he caught three in his FSU debut against No. 5 LSU and added two more at Clemson and at Wake Forest. His second touchdown catch at Clemson was in overtime and led FSU to its first road overtime win in school history.

Coleman joined Peter Warrick as the only players in Florida State history with 100 receiving and 100 punt return yards in the same game when he caught nine passes for 140 yards and added 107 punt return yards against Syracuse. Coleman caught a career-long 58-yard touchdown and returned a punt 72 yards against the Orange.

Against LSU to begin the season, Coleman caught nine passes for 122 yards and three touchdowns, the most in FSU history for a player making his Seminole debut and the most in the ACC this year.

Coleman is also on the Biletnikoff Award watch list, presented to the nation’s top receiver and named for former Florida State and Pro Football Hall of Famer Fred Biletnikoff.

Florida State redshirt junior defensive end Jared Verse was named one of 12 semifinalists for the Lombardi Award:

Verse has 24 tackles, 4.5 sacks and 6.5 tackles for loss in eight games this season. He is FSU’s active career leader with 13.5 sacks, 23.5 tackles for loss, two fumble recoveries and one blocked kick. Verse ranks fourth nationally among active players with 0.90 TFL per game and 0.68 sacks per game in his FBS career.

Verse tied a career high with 2.0 sacks against Virginia Tech and at Wake Forest, and now has four games as a Seminole with 2.0 sacks. The Dayton, Ohio, native had a career-high eight quarterback pressures against the Demon Deacons on Saturday as FSU improved to 8-0 overall and 6-0 in the ACC.

In the Seminoles’ 41-3 win against Syracuse, Verse recovered a fumble forced by Joshua Farmer and returned it 11 yards, his second career fumble recovery. Verse had a season-high five tackles against No. 16 Duke and added 1.5 tackles for loss at Boston College.

A 2022 First Team All-American, Verse was on the Lombardi Award preseason watch list, as well as watch lists for the Nagurski Trophy, Bednarik Award and Walter Camp Award.

Soccer

No. 1 Florida State soccer was deservedly lauded in All-ACC selections and awards, with it being announced Wednesday that head coach Brian Pensky was named the ACC Coach of the Year, midfielder Onyi Echegini the ACC Offensive Player of the Year and forward Jordynn Dudley the ACC Freshman of the Year.

FSU’s seven players across all three All-ACC teams is the second-highest in school history.

First Team All-ACC:

• Jody Brown, Sr., F, Florida State
• Jordynn Dudley, Fr., F, Florida State
• Onyi Echegini, Sr., M, Florida State

Second Team All-ACC:

• Taylor Huff, Jr., M, Florida State
• Leilanni Nesbeth, Sr., M, Florida State
• Cristina Roque, Sr., GK, Florida State

Third Team All-ACC:

• Beata Olsson, Sr., F, Florida State

All-Freshman Team:

• Jordynn Dudley, F, Florida State
• Amelia Van Zanten, D, Florida State

In his second year at the helm of the Seminoles, Pensky was named the ACC Coach of the Year after leading FSU to a historic regular season. FSU completed its first undefeated regular season in school history with a 14-0-1 record. FSU took home the ACC Regular Season Championship while breaking the school record for goals during ACC play with 36. Pensky becomes the second coach in school history to win an ACC Coach of the Year award.

Echegini became the fifth player in FSU history to win ACC Offensive Player of the Year. Echegini is the first Nole to win the award since Deyna Castellanos in 2019. Echegini put together another terrific season for the Seminoles as she led the conference with 11 goals, five of which came against ranked opponents. Echeginia also added three assists. Echegini became the first Seminole to win an ACC Player of the Week in back-to-back weeks. Echegini was also named to the All-ACC First Team for the first time in her career.

Dudley broke onto the scene early on this year and became one of the nation’s most dangerous scorers. Dudley tallied four goals this season which ranks fourth in the conference. Dudley tallied three multi-goal games this season against USF, North Carolina and Miami. Dudley is also second on the team in assists with six. Dudley became the first FSU freshman to the All-ACC First Team since Yujie Zhou in 2018.

Joining Dudley and Echegini on the All-ACC First Team is Jody Brown who is on the All-ACC First Team for the second consecutive season. Brown continued to be electric for the Seminoles after tallying four goals and three assists in just 12 games played.

Taylor Huff, Leilanni Nesbeth and Cristina Roque were all named to the All-ACC Second Team. This is Huff’s third consecutive All-Conference honor as she was named the All-SEC Second Team in 2021 and the All-SEC First Team in 2022. Huff led the conference with 11 assists while adding five goals.

Nesbeth continued to be the Seminoles’ leader in the midfield as she tallied two goals and four assists while also helping FSU to eight shutouts on the defensive end.

Roque continued to be terrific for FSU inside the goal this season. Roque helped lead the Seminoles to eight shutouts this season.Roque started all 15 games for the Seminoles while making 20 saves. This is Roque’s third consecutive year being named All-ACC.

For the third consecutive year, Beata Olsson was named All-ACC as she is a member of the All-ACC Third Team. Olsson started all 15 games for the Seminoles this season and tallied three goals and five assists.

Mimi Van Zanten and Dudley were named to the ACC All-Freshman Team. Van Zanten started five games for FSU, tallying five assists and scoring the game-tying goal with just 3 seconds left to earn a draw with North Carolina.

FSU’s seven honorees on the three All-ACC teams is the second-most in school history just behind last year’s record of eight honorees on the All-ACC teams. FSU’s three ACC award winners are tied for the most in school history with the 2019 season.

FSU will look for their fourth consecutive ACC Championship this week as they take on No. 11 Pitt in the ACC Semifinals on Thursday night. Kickoff is set for 8 p.m. and can be seen live on the ACC Network.

The Seminoles are set to take on Pitt in the Seminoles’ first game of the ACC Championship — FSU locked down the regular season title and is looking to claim the tournament title alongside it for just the fourth time in school history (overall, FSU has won four straight tournament titles including the last three).

Some notes, via FSU Sports Info:

ACC Dominance: No one has been more dominant in the ACC than the Florida State Seminoles in the last 11 seasons. FSU has won eight out of the past 10 ACC Tournament Championships to go along with four ACC Regular Season Championships in that period. FSU will be looking for their fourth consecutive ACC Tournament Championship. This would be the second time in school history that FSU has won four-straight ACC Championships as they accomplished the feat from 2013-16.

Last Time Out: FSU ended the regular season on a high note as they took down NC State 5-0 to clinch the ACC Regular Season Championship on senior night. Four out of the five goals were scored by seniors led by Lauren Flynn who recorded her first career hat trick. Kaitlyn Zipay and Olivia Garcia also added goals for the Seminoles.

A Historic Run: Florida State has been a perennial power for most of this century, but FSU was able to accomplish something they never have in school history. FSU completed its first ever undefeated regular season in school history with a 14-0-1 record. FSU did complete the 2020 regular season with an 8-0 record with a conference-only schedule.

Hello No. 1: For the 45th week in school history, the Florida State soccer team is ranked No. 1 following the new United Soccer Coaches Poll on Tuesday. FSU is 49-9-5 all-time when ranked No. 1 and is 23-1-2 when they have been ranked No. 1 since the start of the 2021 season. FSU has never lost at home when they are ranked No. 1 posting a perfect 30-0-0 record.

A Senior Night to Remember: There is a good chance that Lauren Flynn will never forget her senior night at Florida State. Flynn recorded her first career hat trick against NC State in a 5-0 win. Flynn came into the game with just three career goals. Flynn has scored four goals in the past two games, two of them coming off set pieces.

Getting Hot: FSU forward Onyi Echegini has been very impressive all season but has taken her game to another level in the past three games. In the last four games against Notre Dame, Pitt, Duke and NC State, Echegini has scored five goals and has emerged as the ACC’s leading goal scorer while playing in three fewer games than the rest of the teams in the ACC. Echegini has scored 10+ goals in back-to-back seasons and is the first Nole to accomplish that feat since Deyna Castellanos in 2018-19. Echegini also became the first FSU player to win back-to-back ACC Player of the Week awards.

A Star in the Making: Freshman forward Jordynn Dudley has put together one of the best freshman seasons in the country. Dudley has scored nine goals while adding six assists. Dudley had back-to-back two-goal matches against No. 1 North Carolina and Miami. Dudley is the only freshman to have three multi-goal games this season. Dudley is tied for fourth among freshmen for total goals scored this season and is tied for fourt hin the ACC in total goals but is second in the ACC in goals per game behind teammate Onyi Echegini.

Dynamic Duo: The Seminoles have one of the top scoring duos not only in the ACC but also in the country with Jordynn Dudley and Onyi Echegini. Echegini (11) and Dudley (9) have combined to score 20 goals for the Seminoles this season. Echegni leads the ACC in goals scored and Dudley is fourth, but they are first and second in the conference in goals per game. FSU will be looking to have two double-digit goal scorers for the first time since 2014.

Historic Offensive Numbers: FSU put together one of the best offensive seasons in ACC history. During ACC play, FSU scored 36 goals this season in ACC play which is a new school record and is the second-most goals in ACC history behind North Carolina’s 37 ACC goals in 2007. TFSU is also on pace to break the school record for assists per game, points per game and goals per game in a single season. FSU currently has the top offense in the country with 3.33 goals per game. The Seminoles also lead the country in assists per game and points per game.

Spreading the Wealth: Florida State is the best team in the country in terms of spreading the ball around. 13 players have scored for the Seminoles this season which is a top 10 mark in school history. FSU is ranked first in the country with 3.79 assists per game. Taylor Huff leads the team with 10 assists which ranks third in the ACC and 10th in the country.

Suffocating Defense: FSU has once again been one of the top defensive teams in the country. In its last seven matches, the Seminoles have allowed three goals, two of which came against Pitt. Against Miami, the Seminoles did not allow a single shot. This was the first time the Seminoles have held an opponent to 0 shots since Sept. 8, 2019, against Samford. It was the eighth time the Seminoles have held an opponent to 0 shots and just the third time and first time since 2014 that FSU has held an ACC opponent to 0 shots.

Strong PK Showing: Overall, Florida State has a combined record of 12-4 all-time in postseason penalty kicks - including a record of 10-2 since 2005 - and earned the 2011, 2015 and 2016 ACC Championship and the 2021 National Championship by way of PKs.

Comeback Kids: FSU has trailed just three times this season and have made comebacks in each match to either win or tie the match. FSU has trailed twice at the half this season against Syracuse and No. 18 Pitt and came back to win 3-2 in both matches. FSU also fell behind against No. 1 UNC in the final minutes but got a last-second goal from Mimi Van Zanten to earn the draw.

Finishing Strong: The Seminoles have dominated teams in the final 25 minutes of the match. In the last 25 minutes of their games this season, FSU is outscoring opponents 20-4 with two of those goals being surrendered against No. 1 North Carolina.

Dominating the Second Half: The Seminoles have been unstoppable in the final 45 minutes of their first six matches. In the second half this season, FSU is outscoring their opponents 37-4 compared to just a 12-8 advantage in the first half. Under Head Coach Brian Pensky, the Seminoles have outscored their opponents 78-14 in the second half.

Basketball

No. 18 Florida State women’s basketball wrapped its two-game exhibition schedule with a 97-52 win over Clayton State:

Five Seminoles scored in double figures to punctuate the blowout win, led by returning All-American Ta’Niya Latson’s 21 points. Junior guard O’Mariah Gordon was impressive with 17 points on 7-of-17 shooting along with five rebounds, accelerating her game to a new level as she continues her fine display in the preseason.

Graduate guard Alexis Tucker chipped in with 11 points while freshman Carla Viegas also added 11. Redshirt senior Sara Bejedi added 10 points along with five assists.

Graduate guard Alexis Tucker chipped in with 11 points while freshman Carla Viegas also added 11. Redshirt senior Sara Bejedi added 10 points along with five assists.

Sophomore Brianna Turnage led FSU with 10 rebounds in nearly 16 minutes played. FSU got to the line 41 times on Wednesday and totaled 11 assists to just eight turnovers despite the high number of possessions.

All Sports

Florida State men’s tennis team saw multiple players earn wins at the M15 Tallahassee Championships at the FSU Indoor Tennis Center:

No. 102 Jamie Connel opened singles play in a ranked matchup against teammate and 55th-ranked Youcef Rihane. After dropping the first set 6-4, Connel stormed back, winning the second set 7-6(3) and the third set 6-0, advancing to the round of 16.

Connel advanced to the quarterfinal round of M15 Tallahasee after a three-set-thriller against Matt Kuhar. After winning the first set 7-6, Connel and Kuhar played out seven deuce points with the score 5-5 before Kuhar eventually won the set 7-5. A 6-2 third-set victory earned Connel a match against Axel Nefve.

After dropping the first set to Nefve 7-5, Connel battled back, winning both the second and third set in 7-6(6) tiebreakers to advance to the semifinals of the tournament.

Justin Lyons began the weekend with a three-set upset win over Facundo Bermejo from Argentina. After Lyons won the first set 6-3 and lost the second set by the same score, the freshman clinched the match with a 10-7 finish in the third set. Lyons’ second match resulted in another win, this time a 6-4, 7-6 victory over Pakistan’s Huzaifa Abdul Rehman.

Freshman Azariah Rusher opened singles play with a 6-3, 6-3 straight-set victory over Venezuala’s Sebastian Pino.

Loris Pourroy and Rihane teamed up in an upset victory over Erik Grevelius and Finn Murgett in the doubles round of 16. The match came down to the final set after a 6-3, 1-6 split in the first two sets, with the Seminoles taking set three by a 10-5 margin.

No. 15 FSU men’s golf finished second at the East Lake Cup, falling to North Carolina 3-1-1:

The Seminoles, who reached the finals by defeating Florida Tuesday in match play, got a win from senior Brett Roberts 3&2 and sophomore Luke Clanton tied his match. Senior Gray Albright mounted a terrific charge on the back nine before losing 2&1, while senior Frederick Kjettrup and true freshman Tyler Weaver both lost 4&3.

FSU played without senior Cole Anderson who led the Seminoles to a win at the Stephens Cup with a second place finish in the Noles previous outing.

The tournament was the final of four fall matches for FSU who will be one of the favorites to reach the NCAA Championship matches in the spring. Florida State finished eighth at the Folds of Honor Intercollegiate in Grand Haven, Mich. on September 6th, sixth on September 17th at the OFCC/Fighting Illini Invite on famed Olympia Fields in Illinois, sixth at the Ben Hogan Invitational in Fort Worth, Tex. on October 3rd and won the Stephens Cup in Dallas, Tex. on October 10.