Florida State, the No. 1 team in the country, entered Method Road Soccer Stadium where no visiting team had won this year.
But the Seminoles would be the first to defeat the Wolfpack at home this season, winning 2-0.
Florida State outshot N.C. State (6-2-2, 1-1) 13-7 and the Pack did not take one corner kick — making ball possession a point of improvement for coach Laura Kerrigan and her team.
“[The] first 10 minutes we possessed and we didn’t possess very well after that which is disappointing because we clearly could have,” Kerrigan said.
The Seminoles led 1-0 at halftime after a goal from junior forward Selin Kuralay in the 28th minute.
The Pack had its opportunities in the first half as freshman forward Chantalle Dugas had a shot sail just over the crossbar and junior midfielder Jessica O’Rourke’s header was swallowed up by the Seminoles goalie.
“Not to take away from Florida State because they’re a great team, they’ve got some great players,” Kerrigan said. “On one hand we showed we can play with them, but on the other hand we need a better effort to beat teams like this.”
As a result of Sunday’s game, O’Rourke’s streak of six games with either an assist or goal was brought to an end. O’Rourke entered the game second in the ACC with 17 points on the year.
“They move off the ball so well,” O’Rourke said. “We were kind of stuck chasing [the] ball and not staying with the mark and that’s what killed us.”
O’Rourke also nearly scored in the second half, when her bicycle kick went just right of the goal.
“[We’ve] got to put away one of those chances, we had some good chances to score and we didn’t put them away,” Kerrigan said.
In the second half, senior midfielder India Trotter connected quickly for Florida State as her goal into the top of the box in the 48th minute was the final score in the contest.
“We’re disappointed with the two goals that we gave up because I thought we played pretty solid,” Kerrigan said. “We created, in the first 10 minutes, more chances than they did then we dropped more defensively for the rest of the first half.”
The win propelled Florida State to 7-1 overall and 1-1 in the conference. It was a bounce-back game for the Seminoles after its 2-1 loss against North Carolina.
“They’re a great team, but I think we could have done a lot better,” O’Rourke said. “We also didn’t take enough shots — you got to get the shots off when you can — you can’t look for that perfect shot, you got to take it.”
The Pack is now 0-1-1 against ranked opponents this year. With several other teams in the conference also ranked, they will be facing more top-25 teams this season — starting with its next game on Oct. 1 against No. 24 Duke in Durham.
