Nov. 16, 2007
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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - The Kennesaw State women's soccer team gave up three first half goals and could not recover as the Owls fell to host Florida State, 3-0, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday afternoon at the Seminole Soccer Complex.
The Owls end their best Division I season with a mark of 17-4-0, while Florida State improves to 14-5-3 and advances to play the winner of LSU-Samford on Sunday afternoon.
"It meant a lot for us to play Florida State," said head coach Rob King. "They are one of the top teams in the country and they showed why tonight."
The Seminoles led early in the first half when forward Sanna Talonen scored her 11th goal of the season off a pass from Mami Yamaguchi in the 11th minute of the match.
The FSU duo hooked up again three minutes later when Talonen headed home a corner kick from Yamaguchi off the right side to go ahead 2-0.
Talonen posted her second career postseason hat trick after scoring her third goal in the first half. The Tampere, Finland native gathered a deflection off another shot by Yamaguchi and redirected it to the bottom left corner past KSU keeper Katie Piotrowski to put the Seminoles up 3-0 in the 26th minute.
Florida State out-shot the Owls 15-0 in the first 45 minutes of play, marking the first time all season that KSU had been held without a shot in the first half of play.
"We knew we were in for a high level of play tonight," added King. "We will take a lot from this match and I think it will help us in the long run."
The Owls settled in much better in the second half and had several opportunities to score. Beth Meadors had a go at goal in the 57th minute but her shot was saved by Kate Milstead. Annie Phillips had her header also saved in the 68th minute, but KSU's best scoring chance came two minutes from full time when Sadjr Williams snuck behind the FSU defense. Unfortunately the freshman defender got a little too far under the ball as it went sailing a bit high of the goal.
"Even though it wasn't the result we wanted, I think we showed the fans that we can hang with the best," said Phillips, one of two seniors playing in her final game. "I wouldn't have wanted to go out to any other team. FSU is a solid squad."
The loss snapped the Owls streak of 18 straight matches of scoring a goal, dating back to KSU's 3-0 loss to Samford on September 2. Piotrowski closed the season by making eight saves for the Owls, the most since her 12-save performance against UAB.
