Wrianna Hudson’s late game goal wins FSU soccer national title
Witness Wrianna Hudson’s clutch 87th-minute goal that secured FSU’s fifth NCAA women’s soccer national title over Stanford.
- True freshman goalkeeper Kate Ockene made a career-high nine saves in the shutout victory.
- Hudson also scored the game-winning goal in the semifinal match against TCU.
Wrianna Hudson was the hero again for Florida State soccer as her 87th-minute goal handed the Seminoles a fifth national title, and second in three seasons, with a 1-0 win over Stanford, on Monday, Dec. 8 at CPKC Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri.
Hudson scored the winner for the Seminoles in the semifinal against TCU to book a spot in the national title game, and it was her right-footed shot paired with true freshman goalkeeper Kate Ockene, who led FSU to the national title.
Hudson was named the College Cup’s most outstanding offensive player, while Ockene was named most outstanding defensive player for her performances over the two games.
“Congratulations to our players. Amazing performance, amazing grit, toughness to beat a very good Stanford team,” FSU head coach Brian Pensky told reporters postgame. “In tough games like this, you need a goalkeeper to keep you in the game, and we had a goalkeeper keep us in the game. And then you need to find a way to put a ball in the back of the net, and obviously, Wrianna did that.
Just so elated for our team. The toughness and resilience that grew in this group over the course of the fall. Their elation says it all. Very, very happy right now.”
Ockene made a career-high nine saves, keeping the nation’s best offense in Stanford scoreless with a heroic effort.
Shots from close range or distance, it didn’t matter as Ockene matched everything the Cardinal sent her way.
“She’s a little animal,” Pensky said on the ESPNU broadcast. “She’s the MVP of this match. She kept us in this match. That’s what great goalkeepers have to do.”
“It was definitely a tough match, and Stanford is a phenomenal team. I think what kept us calm is just all of us being together, and that communication on the field meant so much to everyone,” Ockene added postgame. “Even though we didn’t have all the possession the whole game, we still came out on top because we were together… with the shots, just staying calm really helped, and believing in my team.”
Stanford forced Ockene to make six saves in the first half, as the Cardinal outshot the Seminoles 11-4 in the opening period and controlled the flow of the game.
She had to make a pair of spectacular saves, one on a point-blank header off a Stanford corner kick, and another that forced the freshman to quickly dive down to her left and push a volleyed shot from Stanford’s Charlotte Kohler wide.
A tactical change in the first half helped FSU stop some of the Stanford momentum. The Seminoles have played a 4-4-2 throughout the NCAA tournament, but switched to a 4-2-3-1 in the first half to overload the midfield and force the Cardinal into wide spaces.
That change allowed FSU a few chances to counterattack; however, the Seminoles couldn’t convert, despite some good opportunities for Jordynn Dudley.
The second half, much like the first, saw the Cardinal test Ockene in net with seven shots in the half, but the freshman continued to save whatever Stanford threw her way, which allowed Hudson the opportunity to find the winner.
Taylor Suarez played a low cross into the box in the 87th minute, and her ball was deflected into space by Stanford’s Elise Evans. Hudson was the first to react, and she smashed the ball into the net with her right foot, a golden strike to give the Seminoles a fifth national title, the second most in NCAA women’s soccer history.
“I’m so glad that we got the outcome because we really went through it during this game,” Hudson told the ESPNU broadcast.
“I am so glad we got this.”
Liam Rooney covers Florida State athletics for the Tallahassee Democrat. Contact him via email at LRooney@gannett.com or on Twitter @__liamrooney.
