College Cup: Florida State goalkeeper Cristina Roque eager to beat North Carolina, advance

In reflecting on her one loss in 49 match appearances with the Florida State women’s soccer team, Cristina Roque had minimal regrets.

It could have been easy for the reigning ACC Goalkeeper of the Year to dwell on the lone blemish across her three seasons with the Seminoles.

Roque (39-1-9) instead felt compelled to give North Carolina credit.

“They were amazing goals,” said Roque about the 2-1 loss to the Tar Heels in the Seminole Soccer Complex on Oct. 20. “I looked back at them, and I was like, ‘What could I have done to fix that?’ There was not much I could have done when it comes to the goals.”

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FSU eventually avenged that loss, dropping UNC, 2-1, in the ACC Tournament Finals on Nov. 6.

So it will be a rubber match of sorts when the top-seed Seminoles (17-2-3) face the two-seed Tar Heels (19-4-1) again, this time in the College Cup Semifinals at 6 p.m. Friday in Cary, N.C. (TV: ESPNU).

Defeat UNC, and FSU would advance to play the winner of Alabama and UCLA in the NCAA Championship at 6 p.m. Monday. Those two one-seeds will square off against each other at 8:30 p.m. Friday (TV: ESPNU).

The Seminoles heavily leaned on Roque en route to claiming their third national championship last season. She allowed one goal while recording five shutouts and 14 saves across six matches in the NCAA Tournament.

Through four matches this postseason, Roque has given up just one goal while tallying three shutouts and nine saves. First-year coach Brian Pensky expects her to continue to play a major role against the Tar Heels.

“Both teams are going to be organized and defend very well, not give a whole lot away,” Pensky said. “It’s a matter of limiting the good looks, and then when you have them, doing your best to take care of them and making one or two count.”

UNC has long been the standard for women’s college soccer under 21-time national champion coach Anson Dorrance.

The Tar Heels have not missed a step this season despite losing several key players to injury, including All-America defender and captain Mayce Bell and 2021 second-team All-ACC midfielder Sam Meza.

They are a team that FSU knows well. And they are a team that can win this match even if the Seminoles play at a high level.

“We played a great game as a team,” said Roque about FSU’s loss to UNC. “We just were not able to finish our chances. But it’s going to give us a lot more motivation. …

“So when it comes to this next game, we need to work on the little things that we did not do very well against them but also try and throw out what has happened the past two games, because it’s a whole different game coming on Friday.”

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Learning from Florida State assistant Bobby Shuttleworth

Pensky took a bit of a chance when hiring Bobby Shuttleworth as one of his two paid assistant coaches.

Shuttleworth had no previous full-time coaching experience, retiring from his 14-year MLS career to join the Seminoles.

But as FSU’s goalkeeping coach, Shuttleworth seems to be making a smooth transition. Granted, Roque probably makes Shuttleworth’s job easier. How she described Shuttleworth, though, suggests that he has helped her improve this season.

“From the first time I met him, he was very open about, ‘We need to be open about how we want to do things,’” Roque said. “I told him that I’m a visual person. And when it comes to film, he takes clips out of either games or practices to help me out.

“So from day one, he was very open-minded to learning new things so that I can learn as well. He is such a great guy and so easy to talk to, which makes it a lot easier.”

The Seminoles have somewhat regressed defensively, which is part of the reason why Roque has allowed more goals (12) than what she gave up in the 2020 (8) and 2021 (10) seasons. But Roque has significantly more saves, tallying 57 across 16 games compared to 27 and 31 in the last two seasons.

“A big thing was my positioning,” Roque said. “At times, I won't be as connected with the backline as I need to be. So it obviously takes time where I position myself in the goal when he's talking about crossing the ball.

“He knows that it's not going to take one session of film to fix that. It's going to take months, maybe even a year and just consistently showing me where I could try to fix my spot to where making that save could be a little bit easier or even give myself the chance to make that save if possible.”

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Handling the pressure

The Seminoles have a lot of reasons to feel good about their chances this weekend.

They are playing in their third straight College Cup, and fourth in the last five years. They returned several key veterans from their national title team, including a seventh-year senior in defender/midfielder Clara Robbins.

And they have one of the better goalkeepers in the country.

“Experience, in all walks of life, breeds confidence,” Pensky said. “And it also breeds a calmness about you. I’m lucky to be the coach of a group of kids who are very experienced at a high level.”

With a win, Roque would go three for three in terms of appearing in her third straight NCAA Championship Game. She has an idea of what will be necessary to accomplish that feat.

"We know the crowd isn't going to be all FSU fans and everything like that,” Roque said. “So we know that when we come in, we need to be professionals. We don't need to let the little things get in our heads. We need to focus on ourselves.

“And I think that's going to be the main factor when it comes to this next game. We just need to focus on ourselves. And do what we know how to do – play our own soccer.”

Up Next

Who: FSU (17-2-3) vs. North Carolina (19-4-1)

When/Where: Friday, 6 p.m.; Cary, N.C.

TV: ESPNU.

Reach Carter Karels at ckarels@gannett.com or follow him on Twitter @CarterKarels. You can also follow our coverage on Facebook (NoleSports) and Instagram (tlhnolesports).

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This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: FSU soccer: Seminoles ready for North Carolina Tar Heels in College Cup