TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – It has been 100 days since the start of preseason training for the 2017 season, and all of that work along with the challenge of a 17-game regular season, including 10 against teams in the Atlantic Coast Conference has set the stage for the next four weeks of the 2017 NCAA Women's Soccer Championship. No. 4-seed Florida State (11-6-1) will begin its quest for a title on Friday, November 10, as it welcomes Ole Miss (10-6-3) to the Seminole Soccer Complex for a match at 7:00 p.m.
The Seminoles have received a national seed for the 13th year in a row and are one of the top 16 teams in the country for the 14th year overall.
The Noles are 40-1-0 all-time when playing inside the friendly confines of the Seminole Soccer Complex during the NCAA Tournament, with the only loss coming on November 27, 2009 against Notre Dame. Florida State has won 22 straight since then, and has recorded 11 consecutive home shutouts in the NCAA Women's Soccer Championship. The last team to score a postseason goal in Tallahassee was actually Ole Miss in 2013.
Florida State is 72-3-3 in its last 78 overall matches played at home, dating back to 2011. The Noles have 25 wins over ranked opponents over that time and the only losses during that span was a 2-1 defeat to No. 6 Florida on September 5, 2014, a 1-0 loss to No. 10 North Carolina on September 17, 2017 and a 4-3 loss to Notre Dame on October 19, 2017.
The Seminoles are 3-0-1 against Ole Miss, including a 2-0-0 record in the NCAA Tournament. FSU and Ole Miss last played in Tallahassee on November 21, 2013 in a second-round match in the NCAA Tournament. The Noles traveled to Oxford, Miss., for three days from September 9-11 to escape the threat of Hurricane Irma as it moved up the peninsula of Florida.
Ole Miss will compete in the NCAA Tournament for the seventh time in program history and the third time in the last five seasons. The Rebels finished ninth in the SEC in 2017 with a 3-5-2 mark in conference play. Ole Miss is led offensively by Cece Kizer (16 goals) and Channing Foster (12 goals), who have combined to score over half of the Rebels' 54 goals on the season. Marnie Merritt has done the majority of the goalkeeping this season and has a 0.97 goals against average and six shutouts over 18 matches in 2017.
Florida State is a combined 3-6-1 against teams that made the field of 64, with four matches against nationally-seeded teams, including a road win at No. 3-seed Florida.
Friday's match will be streamed on the front page of Seminoles.com, as well as on the Florida State Athletics facebook page, however it will not be a full-feature broadcast. The feed will come from one camera above the press box, and there will be no commentators or graphics for score/time. A link for live stats will be available at Seminoles.com.
Tickets are available now at the Seminole Ticket Office (www.seminoles.com/tickets – 888-378-6653) and can also be purchased at the Seminole Soccer Complex beginning at 6:00 p.m. on Friday, November 10. The prices are $8 for adults; $5 for students and seniors (first 100 students are free); $3 for youth under 12 and children two and under are free.