FSU Claim the College Cup For the Third Time in Its History
The D1 Women’s Soccer Season has officially wrapped up, and it’s the Seminoles who take home the silverware.
Florida State are D1 Women’s Soccer Champions once again, after a win over BYU in an entertaining College Cup final on Monday. The match had to be decided on penalties, and unlike last year’s heartbreak, FSU emerged victorious thanks to players like Cristina Roque and Yujie Zhao. BYU, for their part, played well in what was their first ever final appearance, but it wasn’t enough to defeat the mighty (and unfortunately-named) Seminoles.
Here’s how it all went down:
Is it Soccer or Murderball?
The game in normal time was pretty exciting––a disallowed goal here, an almost-worldie there––but its quality was overshadowed by the terrible fouls committed. No matter how great of a player she is, Jaelin Howell should’ve been sent off; in fact, it’s arguable that the ref bailed FSU out of a defeat with his unwillingness to give her a second yellow card. Nevertheless, pearl-clutching won’t change the result of the game, and one could argue that BYU got away with similar fouls during their semi final against Santa Clara.
A Goalkeeping Masterclass
Neither side was able to score the golden goal in extra time, so the match headed to a shootout. It was here that FSU goalkeeper Cristina Roque put on a goalkeeping performance for the ages, saving a pair of penalties and locking up the win for her team; she even pulled out a kick save for the second shot. All that FSU had to do from there was nail the fifth shot. Yujie Zhao buried the deciding penalty, coaches and players ran from the sidelines to celebrate with her, and Florida State lifted the Cup for the third time.
This season is one for the books pic.twitter.com/4mWdog63vQ
— BYU Women’s Soccer (@byusoccer_w) December 7, 2021
All Eyes on the Draft
The 2022 NWSL Draft is less than two weeks away, and the expansion draft is even closer. It’s hard not to wonder how many BYU and FSU athletes will get swooped up. It’s pretty much a given that Jaelin Howell will end up first overall; hopefully she’s a fan of beaches and unbearably hot weather. But what about Cameron Tucker, who had 20+ G/A in just 24 games? Or Gabby Carle, who won gold in Tokyo 2020? These questions will be answered soon enough, but what matters now is that the College Cup is taking its third trip back to Tallahassee, Florida.
