TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – As the Florida State soccer program enters its 24th season in 2018 and is participating in the 50th anniversary of women’s athletics at Florida State, the Seminoles have announced its 2018 regular season schedule on Wednesday, which includes 12 home games inside the Seminole Soccer Complex.
The 12 home contests match 2013 for the most regular season home games under head coach Mark Krikorian, who will begin his 14th season at Florida State this fall.
The Seminoles will host four schools in 2018 that have combined for 25 of the 35 all-time NCAA Championships as Florida State welcomes North Carolina (21), USC (2), UCLA (1) and Florida (1). The Noles will also play three-time National Champion Notre Dame on the road this season.
The 18-game regular season schedule includes 11 teams that were ranked or receiving votes by United Soccer Coaches at the end of 2017, including four Top 10 teams – No. 2 UCLA, No. 6 Florida, No. 8 North Carolina and No. 9 Virginia. In total, 12 teams on the 2018 schedule played in the NCAA Tournament last season.
“I think we have put together as competitive of a schedule as we have had during my time here at Florida State,” said Krikorian. “We are excited to welcome into Tallahassee a lot of good teams, beginning with Vanderbilt. The non-conference part of our schedule is excellent and, of course, playing through the ACC will bring its fair share of challenges as well. We are looking forward to the players returning and beginning their preparation, and we know that there is a lot of hard work in front of us if we want to have a successful season.”
Florida State will open up at home for the second year in a row and will host Vanderbilt on August 16 and also Troy on August 19. The Noles will play their lone non-conference road game of the season at Wisconsin on August 23, before coming back to Tallahassee for a seven-game homestand which starts with Middle Tennessee on August 26.
A pair of Pac-12 opponents come to town in USC (August 31) and UCLA (September 2), while the annual Fresh From Florida Sunshine Showdown between FSU and Florida will be played in Tallahassee on September 7. The Noles will finish their non-conference schedule on September 9 against South Alabama.
FSU opens ACC play on September 14 at home against North Carolina and will also host Virginia Tech on September 20. The Noles will hit the road for ACC games at Boston College (September 23) and Notre Dame (September 28), before wrapping up the home portion of the schedule with three straight conference games against Clemson (October 4), Wake Forest (October 7) and NC State (October 12).
Florida State ends the regular season with a trio of road games – at Pitt (October 18), at Virginia (October 21) and at Miami (October 25).
Admission is free for all home regular season games at the Seminole Soccer Complex and the announcement of any televised games will come closer to the start of the season.
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