Florida State Battles Virginia To 1-1 Tie In Charlottesville Holly Peltzer tallies her second goal of the season in the draw against the Cavaliers.

Charlottesville, Va. – For the second straight year and for the third time in the series, No. 15 Florida State (6-3-2, 1-1-1) and No. 3 Virginia (7-1-2, 1-0-2) played to a draw with each team managing a goal apiece Thursday evening. The Seminoles took the early lead in the 18th minute on a goal by senior Holly Peltzer, while the Cavaliers scored the equalizer in the 53rd minute off the foot of Sarah Senty. The tie was the first for the Seminoles in Charlottesville snapping Virginia’s six-game winning streak over FSU inside the friendly confines of Klockner Stadium.

The Seminoles were held to a season-low four shots with all of them coming in the first half. Virginia countered with 17 shots. The Cavaliers also held a 12-0 corner kick advantage marking the first time this season FSU was held without a corner kick attempt.

“It was a great result on the road for our team when you consider all the circumstances,” said head coach Mark Krikorian. “At different times this evening we had six, seven freshmen on the field playing against a quality opponent like Virginia. I am thrilled that we were able to battle and hang in there and compete at the level that we did. Virginia is a very good team; they play beautiful soccer. Our kids fought to the very end. I can’t ask any more from them. We were a little short handed tonight, but I thought our group responded in the fashion that we needed to.”

The Seminoles were without the services of a pair of veteran players in senior Kirsten van de Ven and junior Sarah Wagenfuhr on Thursday. Van de Ven was serving a one-game suspension after receiving two yellow cards in the match against NC State last Sunday. She will be available for the Seminoles match against Virginia Tech on Sunday. Wagenfuhr did not make the trip with the team this weekend after suffering a right knee sprain in the first half of last weekend’s match against the Wolfpack. Her status is listed as day-to-day.

“Coming out here we knew that there was a lot on the line especially with a couple of our players not available for tonight’s game,” said senior defender Libby Gianeskis. “But this team did a great job of stepping up tonight. We were a little slow to start, but we were patient in our defending and it paid off for us. We played well together, stepped up to the challenge and played really hard. Unfortunately, we didn’t get the ‘W’ but there is something to say for the hard work our team put out there tonight.”

Virginia got the first good look of the game on the Cavaliers second corner in the first half. Jen Redmond took the corner and sent it short inside the box. The ball found its way to Shannon Foley who sent a shot on goal but it was blocked by the Seminole defense. Nikki Krzysik collected the rebound and quickly fired a shot but it was deflected away by freshman goalkeeper Erin McNulty.

In the 18th minute, the Seminoles cracked the scoreboard with a goal by senior midfielder Holly Peltzer. Peltzer took a pass from freshman Marissa Kazbour down the right side, made two quick moves to get passed a pair of Cavalier defenders and sent a cross to the lower left corner from 10 yards out to give Florida State a 1-0 lead. The goal came on the first shot of the game for the Seminoles.

“I got a good ball down the middle and took my defender inside,” said Peltzer. “I was looking for Mami across the goal mouth, but the defender over committed and I took it inside. The goalkeeper had already dove, so I took a shot and was able to find the back of the net.”

The goal was only the third given up by the Cavaliers all season long and the first since giving up two in a 2-1 loss to Stanford back on September 7. The goal snapped Virginia’s consecutive minutes without a goal at 783:55. It was also the first goal scored by the Seminoles against the Cavaliers in the last five games, a streak lasting over 428 minutes.

Just over five minutes later, Virginia countered with a shot by Caitlin Miskel but it was blocked off the body of Gianeskis. The Cavaliers would pile on two more shots with no avail. A header shot by Kelly Quinn went wide, while Julie Falk’s shot from eight yards out went wide left.

With less than 10 minutes remaining in the first half, Florida State had another great scoring chance, once again by Peltzer. Junior Mami Yamaguchi sent a nice ball down the right side of the pitch to a streaking Peltzer. After two touches, the Lake Mary, Fla., native sent a shot on goal that was saved by Cavalier keeper Chantel Jones.

In the 39th minute, Virginia was called for a foul as Yamaguchi was tripped from behind from about 25 yards out. The Tokyo, Japan native took the kick and sent a bending ball to the left post but Jones made a fantastic diving save to keep the Florida State lead at 1-0.

The Cavaliers outshot the Seminoles 7-4 in the first half, while maintaining the advantage in corner kicks at 5-0.

Virginia came out of the lockerrom on the offensive controlling the flow of play through the first 15 minutes. The Cavaliers managed just one shot, but it was a big one as Sarah Senty tied the match at one on her first goal of the season. The junior defender had taken just seven shots all season but was able to get behind the Seminole defense with a few nice dribbles before firing a cross into the right side of the net to knot the match at one.

The Cavaliers held the Seminoles without a shot in the second half as Virginia outshot Florida State 6-0. Four of the six shots by UVa were taken in the final 10 minutes of play with three going on goal. Two of the three shots were blocked by the Seminole defense while McNulty saved the other sending the game into overtime.

Virginia had the first good scoring opportunity of the first overtime as a shot by Meghan Lenczyk was blocked by the Seminole defense and trickled out of bounds. On the ensuing Cavalier corner, Alli Fries sent a header shot off a Seminole defender for yet another corner. But the third corner would go unharmed. For the second straight period, the Seminoles were held without a shot while Virginia managed just two. Neither team was able to score sending the game into a second overtime period. It marked just the second time all season that the Seminoles played a second extra session.

The second overtime period was a duplicate of the first with two shots by the Cavaliers and no goals. After 110 minutes of play, the game ended in a tie with both teams earning a point in the ACC standings.

“We were ready for the game,” continued Peltzer. “We fought hard and sometimes the result doesn’t come out the way you want it to, but we all worked as a team and played really well. A tie is a great result for us tonight especially with it so early in league play.”

Florida State will remain in the state of Virginia as the Seminoles will face Virginia Tech on Sunday, October 7. Game time is slated for 1:00 pm at the Virginia Tech Soccer Complex. Live stats for the game will be available on www.hokiesports.com.