TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Florida State's Kristen McFarland scored a goal in each half to give the sixth-ranked Seminoles a 2-0 victory of the University of South Alabama soccer team in the first round of the NCAA Tournament Friday night at the Seminole Soccer Complex.

FSU will host Brown in the second round on Friday and improves to 16-5 on the season. USA ends its year at 16-4-2.

GAME FACTS
- It didn't take long for the Seminoles to get on the board as a long ball over the top from Jaelin Howell found Yujie Zhao, who crossed it to a wide-open McFarland standing five yards out in front of the goal at 4:44
- A shot from Clara Robbins at the top of the six-yard box in the 21st minute was blocked by freshman Leandra Flury
- Deyna Castellanos had a pair of attempts just minutes apart that almost doubled the Seminoles' lead; first, her bicycle kick from 12 yards out went wide left at 38:06, then a minute and a half later, almost caught senior Justice Stanford off her line from over 40 yards out but hit the top of the net
- Just before halftime, a header by Leilanni Nesbeth from short range was saved by Stanford
- Sophomore Tilly Wilkes cleared a ball off the line on a corner kick in the 52nd minute, and a short while later, Stanford had to make a diving stop to keep out Castellanos
- Florida State dominated a short stretch, putting up six shots in a four-minute span starting in the 55th minute, culminating in McFarland's second of the night; McFarland got free between two defenders just inside the top of the box and beat Stanford to the lower left corner at 58:48
- Stanford finished with six saves and two goals allowed; FSU's Caroline Jeffers made one save
- The Seminoles outshot the Jaguars 20-2, including 9-1 on goal

NOTES
- South Alabama falls to 1-6 all-time in the NCAA Tournament; all six losses have come on the road to nationally-ranked opposition, including four at Florida State
- The two-goal margin ties the Jaguars' closest loss in postseason play (3-1 vs. Florida, 2017)
- Morris ended her season with 16 goals and 34 points; the 16 goals are tied for third in school history, the 0.73 goals per game are tied for fifth, and the 34 points are ninth
- Despite entering the season with just five career goals, Morris finishes tied for 11th in USA history
- Stanford ends her career first at South Alabama in shutouts (34), goals against average (0.85), wins (51), games played (80), starts (79) and minutes played (7,277); her shutout total is third in Sun Belt history
- Stanford set a new single-season school records with a 0.64 GAA and 1,974 minutes played, and finished tied for second in shutouts (10)
- The team set new marks in goals against average (0.61) and goals allowed (14), and tied the record for shutouts (12)
- Freshman Gracie Wilson's nine assists are tied for 10th in school history

THEY SAID IT
Head Coach Richard Moodie
Overall thoughts: "First, give credit where credit is due, Florida State is a fantastic team. But in terms of my team, they did everything we asked them to do and they gave a good representation of themselves in terms of how hard they were able to work and what they were willing to do. We were pressing and fighting until the last second. I'm proud of everything they've achieved this season. It's not the way you want to end the season but we didn't leave anything on the field; we gave it everything we had."

On the gameplan against FSU: "Our objective was to let them go wide. We hoped they would deliver the ball a little bit more; we felt confident in Justice coming to collect the ball. When they have so many players in and around our box, when they crossed the ball, we were hoping when we collected it, we'd get a Briana Morris or whoever on a breakaway. We wanted to stay compact centrally; we were in a 4-1-4-1 and whenever they got in our defensive third, Brenna (McPartlan) dropped and we went into a back five. They're very patient and disciplined, they don't panic and they're able to swing the ball.

The first goal early on was before we had a chance to get into a rhythm, and the one in the second half, they played a ball that was maybe underhit deliberately and we bit on it trying to step in and win it, and all of the sudden there's pockets in behind us. Castellanos, Zhao and McFarland were dangerous in and around the box."

On the season and the senior class: "The seniors have made the program what it is, and even after a bad season, they've left this program returned to where it needs to be. We'll forever be grateful for this group of seniors. I told them they're the best group of seniors that I've ever coached in terms of how they approach life, practice and soccer, and how they mentored the younger girls. We had a lot of new players coming in, and you have the Gracie's and Athanasia's (Moraitou) of this world that win awards and score goals, but the reality is, we had a group of seniors that have been able to cultivate them and let them understand what it takes to wear the jersey. I couldn't be more proud of them; they're going to go out and smash it in the real world. Hopefully we've been able to give them a great experience here at South Alabama."

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/WeAreSouth_JAGS. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).

Join the Upper 90 Club, the soccer specific support club of the Jaguar Athletic Fund.  All gifts to the Upper 90 Club go directly to support the South Alabama soccer program.  For more information on how you can join visit: http://jaguarathleticfund.com/upper90

—USA—