Florida State handed the Wolfpack a disheartening 4-1 loss Sunday afternoon on Senior Day at Dail Soccer Field. With the loss, State now carries a 7-9 overall record with a 1-6 conference record and an outside chance of making the ACC tournament. The team’s final three matches will come against Duke, Virginia and Virginia Tech.
“Certainly you want your seniors to go out with a win,” coach Steve Springthorpe said. “I don’t know that we played poorly. I’m not disappointed in how we played but I’m disappointed that we didn’t come out with the win. “
Throughout the match, the Seminoles were able to create more opportunities on offense, as they were able to attempt six shots on goal in comparison to three from State. The stalemate was finally broken at the 35th-minute mark with a goal from FSU midfielder Casey Short.
State was quick to respond with a goal from forward Jennie Krauser 42 seconds later. Senior defender Alyson Santilli picked up the assist by sending a cross to Krauser who fired a shot on the right side of the goal.
“The ball came across from the right side and I was playing left forward,” Krauser said. “It crossed in and I capitalized and finished it.”
Despite being down 1-0 at the start of the game, Springthorpe said he was pleased with how his team responded.
“I think a positive thing is when we got down one goal, we found a way to equalize a minute or two later,” Springthorpe said. “It showed a lot of resolve in our team. That’s something we can certainly build on.”
Five minutes into the second half, Short scored another goal for FSU on a one on one breakaway against Wolfpack goalkeeper Kim Kern.
“In the second half, we didn’t get that goal back right away, so we couldn’t get the equalizer.” Kern said.
The nail was hammered into the coffin by the 61st minute of the match when Seminole midfielder forward Janice Cayman notched another goal for FSU after making a play off of a free kick.
The fourth goal for FSU only added insult to injury for State, as Cayman scored her second goal of the contest, pushing the score to 4-1.
“The second half has unfortunately caught us this year,” Springthorpe said. “We have played good in the first half, but second half we gave up on goals for whatever reason, and we’ll have to figure that out. “
Though a devastating loss came on an emotional day for the Pack, the seniors were able to reflect on their time here at State and what it meant to them.
“It was really emotional, but it was happy and sad at the same time because we played for four years on this team and to see everyone get together in the locker room and have a little ceremony,” Santilli said. “The girls actually put together a scrapbook, and so each person created one page for each of us. It was really good to talk about the past memories. It was sad but it’s good to look back on the memories.”
