Noles News: Football wins state, fútbol is College Cup bound

The Florida State Seminoles have had a weekend of excitement heading into December. Boasting key wins across the board, football took down the Florida Gators in an exhilarating fashion cementing their place as 2022 State Champs. Soccer advanced to the College Cup and women’s basketball has been on fire, now returning from Mexico.

Here is the inside scoop on everything happening in Seminole Athletics:

Football

The Florida Gators came, they saw, and were conquered by the Unconquered in what will go down as a timestamp in FSU history as the Noles continue their climb.

The Noles sent the seniors out with a bang after the defense delivered their finishing blow securing a 45-38 victory to the bleached blonde mullets down south. In doing so, they moved to No. 14 in the AP and Coach’s Poll sparking some controversy over their final ranking.

The Noles are bowl eligible for the first time since 2019 and are on the brink of a much-needed 10-win season to start next year.

Recruiting

Thanksgiving weekend was huge in the recruiting world which gave some of the top talents in the country a chance to see what Doak Campbell Stadium is like in full force. Multiple 5-stars were in attendance for Friday’s game including FSU commit Hykeem Williams who is the front-runner of the ‘23 class.

It’s that time of the year again and the coaching carousel is spinning. Former FSU offensive coordinator Kenny Dillingham was hired away from the Oregon Ducks to be the head coach at Arizona State which brings into question the choice of hires that he takes with him. If you want to follow along and discuss the wild west of CFB landscape coaching hires, head on over to the Official Coaching/Staff Changes Thread #1.

For everything else recruiting related head on over to the Florida State Football: OFFICIAL Tribe ‘23 Recruiting and Portal Thread #14 to discuss the next few upcoming classes; who will stick and who is trending for the Noles?

Basketball

Men’s basketball has been a stark contrast in comparison to seasons past and is now sitting at 1-7 heading into December after a 58-75 loss against Nebraska on Sunday night.

Men’s hoops will take on No. 24 Purdue on November 30, at 7:30 p.m.

Meanwhile, women’s basketball rattled Harvard on Saturday 88-57 in Cancun, Mexico. Star forward and Mexico native Mariana Valenzuela stole the show with a career-high 19 points helping the Seminoles with wins over Harvard and Purdue.

From Seminoles Sports info:

Mexican-born sophomore forward Mariana Valenzuela totaled a career-high 19 points off the bench to spark Florida State Women’s Basketball to an 88-57 win over Harvard in its final game of the Cancun Challenge on Saturday at the Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Maya.

The Seminoles (7-1) finish the tournament 2-1 with wins over Purdue (76-75) and Harvard and a close loss to Oklahoma State (79-77)

Heading to Wisconsin on December 1, they face the Badgers (3-5, 0-0) at 7:30 p.m.

All Sports

Volleyball is headed to Minneapolis, MN after being selected on Sunday night to be matched against Northern Iowa on December 2 for the NCAA Women’s Volleyball Tournament.

No. 1 FSU soccer advanced to the College Cup after taking down the three-seeded Arkansas 1-0 and will head to Cary, NC to take on the Tar Heels in the National Semi-final Game.

From Tomahawk Nation’s Prince Akeem Joffer:

FSU outshot Arkansas 13 to 11 (9 to 5 on goal).

The Noles had 54% of the possession for the game to 46% for Arkansas.

Both teams earned five corner kicks.

Florida State was obviously lucky to get its own goal but in sports (as in life) you often make your own luck. FSU did that in this game as they were able to pressure Arkansas putting the Hogs in a position to make a mistake. Also, the Noles avoided the big turnover in the back when they were facing serious pressure from Arkansas. That was a big key to this game.

Another key was Florida State’s versatility. Coach Hale commented on that, “The thing with FSU is that they can play both. They can possess but they can also beat you with the counter. And they have some wingers (Jody Brown and Onyi Echegini) that are rapid fast.” We saw that versatility on full display tonight. In the first half Florida State was forced to absorb the Arkansas pressure and look for offense on the counter. In the second half the Noles had much more possession and were able to play their normal game breaking down the Razorback low block.

Florida State will travel to Cary, NC to take on North Carolina in the national semifinal game. The Tar Heels eliminated Notre Dame tonight by a 2-0 score to advance to the College Cup. This will be the third time that the Heels and the Noles will meet this year. FSU lost to UNC 2-1 on October 2nd. However, Florida State got a measure of revenge in the ACC Championship game on November 6th taking down the Tar Heels 2-1.

The third game in the trilogy will happen on Friday, December 2nd. Kickoff will be 6 pm. The game will be broadcast on ESPNU.