Florida State Earns NCAA Bid, Hosts First Round Game Against Kennesaw State

The Seminoles garner a national ranking for the third straight year.

11/12/2007

Tallahassee, Fla. – For the eighth consecutive season, Florida State is headed back to the NCAA Tournament as the Seminoles earned a national seed for the third straight year and for the fourth time in the last five. The third-seeded Seminoles will open the tournament at home on Friday, November 16 at 4:30 pm against Kennesaw State (17-3-0). LSU (11-4-7) and Samford (15-4-1) will play at 7:00 pm at the Seminole Soccer Complex. The winners will face-off on Sunday at 1:00 pm.



“We are excited to be back in the tournament,” said head coach Mark Krikorian. “Anytime you can sleep in your own bed and maintain your usual lifestyle is always an advantage. We are ecstatic to be playing in front of our home crowd.”



“It was our goal to get back to the NCAA Tournament and I think we did what we had to do (during the regular season) to get back,” stated senior Libby Gianeskis. “We are all very excited to be hosting. It’s always nice to play at home in front of our great fans and on our field.”



“It’s so exciting, especially to be playing at home,” explained senior Holly Peltzer. “We feel we are in a good place. There are some good teams in front of us, but we are just excited that we get to play in Tallahassee.”



This marks the second straight year that Florida State University will serve as a host for the first and second rounds. Last year, the Seminoles opened the tournament with a 6-0 win over Jacksonville before downing California 3-1 in the second round.



“A big part of playing at home is being able to stay in your daily routine,” explained Gianeskis. “We have been away a lot the past couple of weeks so it’s nice to get a weekend at home. Home field advantage is always nice.”



The Seminoles look to continue their success at home in the NCAA Tournament when play begins on Friday. Florida State is a perfect 10-0-0 at the Seminole Soccer Complex outscoring the opposition 29-6. A year ago, the Garnet and Gold went 4-0-0 on their home turf en route to their third trip to the College Cup.



Florida State and Kennesaw State will face each other for the first time in school history. The Owls received their first bid to the NCAA Tournament after defeating Mercer 2-1 to capture the Atlantic Sun Conference championship. LSU earned an at-large bid out of the Southeastern Conference, while Samford earned an at-large bid out of the Ohio Valley Conference.



FSU is 1-1-1 against LSU including a 1-1 record in Tallahassee. In 2002, the Tigers defeated the Seminoles 2-1 at the Seminole Soccer Complex. Florida State has never faced Samford.



“It’s been a good season for us,” said Krikorian. “Those competitive games against all the ACC teams hopefully have prepared us well for what’s in front of us.”



“We played some tough teams this year,” added Peltzer. “We have learned from our mistakes this year and I feel that we have really come a long way to this point in the season. I feel the schedule that we played this season will benefit us in the long run.”



Ticket information for the 2007 NCAA Women’s Soccer Tournament in Tallahassee will be available on-line at Seminoles.com or by calling (850) 644-1830. Fans outside of Tallahassee can call toll free at 1-888-FSUNole. Please stay tuned to Seminoles.com for further details on this week’s First & Second Round action.