ATHENS, Ga. — No. 1 Florida State (1-0-1) earned its first win of the season and first win under head coach Brian Pensky after a 3-1 win over Georgia (1-1-0) Sunday.
Cristina Roque improved to 28-0-7 in her career and the Noles improved to 46-16-10 on the road since 2013. The win also marked FSU’s first win against Georgia in Athens.
The Noles came out firing in the first half against Georgia, with seven shots, five on goal and three goals. Beata Olsson got off the first shot for the Noles in the fifth minute after a nice turn when receiving a throw-in by Clara Robbins. After the goal kick that followed resulted in a turnover, Florida State scored its first goal of the season in the sixth minute. Ran Iwai brought the ball up from the back and passed it to Jenna Nighswonger in the center of the field who dropped it off to Onyi Echegini in the top right corner of the box. She shot it from the top of the 18-yard box into the bottom right corner of the net for her first goal as a Seminole.
Three minutes later, Echegini had another great look from the right side that clanked off both posts but was cleared by the Georgia defense. In the 12th minute, Cristina Roque made her first save of the game diving to her right.
14 minutes later, the Seminoles took a 2-0 lead after Jenna Nighswonger scored her 14th career goal. She intercepted a Georgia pass at the top of the 18-yard box and struck a bending ball into the bottom left corner of the net.
Two minutes later in the 28th minute, Georgia cut the lead in half with a goal scored by Dani Murguia in the bottom left of the goal off an assist by Madison Haugen.
In the 33rd minute, FSU had a great opportunity as Maria Alagoa took the ball up the field and passed it off to the left to Emma Bissell who crossed it into Beata Olsson. Olsson’s shot was deflected out and led to an FSU corner kick. The Noles would convert on the corner kick in the 34th minute as Alagoa sent the ball into the front post. Bissell then headed the ball towards the back post and into the net for her second career goal, giving FSU a 3-1 lead into halftime.
Florida State continued to get shots on goal in the second half as they took six more shots with four on goal. The Noles would not be able to convert as they would go on and win their first game 3-1.
In the 50th minute, LeiLanni Nesbeth got a shot off from near the top of the box right at the UGA goalkeeper. Three minutes later in the 53rd minute, the Noles had a corner kick that went in off the head of Echegini but was called off because of interference. The Garnet and Gold had two more shots in the 54th and 56th minutes by Robbins and Nighswonger both saved by the UGA keeper.
FSU finished with a 13-9 shot advantage and a 9-4 shots on goal advantage while holding on to the ball for 65 percent of the game.
