Nov. 11, 2011

Box Score

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - The Samford University soccer team's 2011 NCAA Tournament run came to an end Friday as the Bulldogs lost on the road against the sixth-ranked Florida State Seminoles 2-0 in the opening round of play held at the Seminole Soccer Complex.

"It was a great match," said Samford head coach Todd Yelton. "Mark (Krikorian) does a fantastic job with the players here. I certainly think Florida State will be in the mix at the end of it to win the national championship. I thought Alyssa (Whitehead) played fantastic for us tonight and made some unbelievable saves. [FSU's Tiffany] McCarty has to be one of the best forwards in the country in my mind."

With the loss, Samford (14-6-2) had its school-record 10-match winning streak snapped. The defeat was the Bulldogs' first setback in 54 days, dating all the back to a hard-fought 2-0 loss at Vanderbilt on Sept. 18.

"It's disappointing, but the way the NCAA works from a seeding standpoint, or lack of seeding, when you draw the No. 1 seed you know you're swimming upstream from the beginning," Yelton said. "I thought our players were fantastic tonight. I can't be prouder of them."

Florida State (15-6-1) remained undefeated for a seventh straight match. Since suffering a 3-0 loss against 10th-ranked Maryland on Oct. 13, the Seminoles have earned consecutive victories over No. 4 Boston College 1-0, Miami 4-2, No. 25 Virginia Tech 2-0, No. 8 North Carolina 1-0 and No. 6-ranked Virgina 2-1.

Florida State also advanced past No. 8 Wake Forest in the championship match of the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament.

"Florida State has an outstanding team and their roster in littered with players that are national team players, so they were definitely a very tough task. I couldn't have asked for anything more from our team tonight."

After the teams battled through nearly 58 minutes of scoreless soccer, the Seminoles' Janice Cayman tallied the game-winning goal at exactly 57:34 into the match. On the score, which was her sixth of the season, Cayman touched home a crossing pass from Tiffany McCarty from five yards out. McCarty's assist came from the right flank at about 14 yards away.

The helper was McCarty's fifth of the season.

Nearly eight minutes later, Florida State's Tiana Brockway scored her second goal of the season at 64:58 to five the Seminoles their decisive 2-0 advantage. On Brockway's unassisted score, Florida State's junior from Tacoma, Wash., found the upper left corner of the net on a right-footed strike from 17 yards out.

Samford's Alyssa Whitehead, the Bulldogs' First-Team All-Southern Conference goalkeeper turned in a season-high with 10 saves Friday. She also set Samford's single-season saves record with 120 by surpassing former Bulldog-great Crystal Royall's previous mark of 116, which was set in 2002.

"I'd definitely say I'm just really thankful to have a great coaching staff," said Whitehead. "The fact that they believed in me, because when I was looking at schools most people didn't believe that I could have the ability to play at a high level. The fact that they did that, I knew I was meant to be at Samford.

"Through the four years of being here, I've grown so much just as a person and also on the field, thanks to them and wonderful teammates. It's just a blessing to be a part of Samford. It's really special. With this team right here, I have this bond that's going to be eternal. That's even more important."

At halftime, the score of the match was deadlocked at 0-0. Whitehead, the Bulldogs' 6-foot-3 senior from Hattiesburg, Miss., registered six saves in the opening period and went into intermission tied for Samford's single-season record with 116.

Florida State outshot the Bulldogs 12-1 in the first half, but Samford's back line held strong and kept the Seminoles from finding the back of the net. The Bulldogs' shot attempt occurred on a counterattack midway through the opening period and was touched off the foot of senior Lindsay Matern. On the shot, Matern hooked an attempt from the right wing that finished left of Florida State's goal.

In the opening 45 minutes of play, the Seminoles took a decisive 8-0 lead in corner kicks. The Bulldogs led Florida State in saves, 7-0, while Samford was whistled for three fouls as compared to zero for the Seminoles.

"Our team battled tonight and never gave up," said Yelton. "In the end it all comes down to character and our players showed great character all year long. Florida State is a very good team and they definitely have a chance to win it all. I couldn't be more proud of our players. I thought they gave a great effort."

Florida State finished the match with 28 shot attempts. The Seminoles also tallied 12 corner kicks.

"In my mind, Mark (Krikorian) is one of the best coaches in the nation, so he made some good adjustments at halftime," Yelton said. "He made it a little harder for us to keep possession, but in the end I received great effort from our players and we just wanted to keep it tight and possibly get one goal late in the match. We weren't able to do it tonight, but you can't fault our effort for sure."

Friday night's match marked a conclusion to one of Samford's best seasons in school history. The 2011 Bulldogs registered a 14-6-2 overall record and went undefeated in SoCon play at 9-0-2. Samford won the SoCon regular-season title and earned its first SoCon Tournament championship with wins against Western Carolina, Furman and College of Charleston.

The Bulldogs also set school records with a 10-match winning streak and a 14-match undefeated streak.

"I'm a fifth-year (senior) so I was hanging on to every game I had left," said Samford forward Sarah Wilkinson. "What a way to go out. It was a great group of girls and I had a blast. It's been a great experience - my whole college career - but this year especially was incredible and I'm really glad we got as far as we did. I loved every minute of it."