THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE
- Our ACC preview continues: Florida State
We've been previewing the women's sports programs in the ACC over the last several weeks and today we look at Florida State.
Florida State was founded in 1851 and joined the ACC in 1991. They have an enrollment of 41,000 students and the university is located in Tallahassee, FL.
The school nickname and mascot is the Seminoles and makes quite an appearance before football games...riding in on a horse and brandishing a spear.
(We hope he doesn't try that in PJCS or the KFC YUM! Center)
'Noles and Free Shoes University are other terms of endearment for program. Whenever they faced Notre Dame in any event...the popular moniker for a stretch of time was "Convicts vs. Catholics".
The FSU colors are garnet and gold.
Burt Reynolds attended there and played football. Other alumni of note include Faye Dunaway, Jim Morrison (The Doors) and Hunter S. Thompson.
They did not play football with Burt. That could have been real interesting if they had...though.
FSU participates in ten women's college sports: Basketball, Cross Country, Golf, Soccer, Softball, Swim/Dive, Tennis, Track/Field, Volleyball and Sand Volleyball.
Let's take a look and see how they did in some of these last season...
Basketball: Sue Semrau, in her 18th season, lead FSU to a 21-12 record. They were 7-9 in the ACC. Making the 'Big Dance' ...they were shuffled off to Iowa State for the first round and promptly upset them. They were not so lucky against Stanford two nights later. Louisville defeated them 69-59 in the regular season. The all-time series is tied at 12-12.
Cross Country: The 'Noles won the women's ACC Championship and the NCAA South Regional. They finished eighth in the NCAA Championships. Training with live gators on the course probably increases your stamina. (just kidding...)
Golf: The Seminole chip and putters finished 7th in the ACC Tournament. They did qualify for the NCAA East regionals, carding a 11th place finish. Freshman sensation Matilda Castren is one of six returning players.
Soccer: FSU was 23-2-3 on the season and 10-1-2. They won the ACC. They also ran off five wins in the NCAA Tournament before losing 1-0 to UCLA in overtime in the NCAA Soccer Championship Final.
Softball: An impressive regular season, going 55-9 and 24-3 in ACC play. They took the ACC Tournament. They also won their regional and Super regional brackets. They didn't fare so well in the WCWS...losing twice and getting eliminated by Baylor.
Tennis: Florida State complied a 16-13 record and was 6-8 in the ACC. They advance to the second round of the ACC Tournament and qualified for the NCAA Championships...losing to Georgia in the second round. They were ranked #31st in the NCAA.
Volleyball: A successful 26-8 season for the Noles
SYNOPSIS:
Florida State has lost to Louisville the last two times the schools have met in women's basketball. We see Walz winning again, now that Natasha Howard and Maegan Conwright have graduated. Soccer, softball and cross-country are a different matter...the Cards aren't quite at FSU's skill set yet. Volleyball could go either way. Tennis and golf look pretty evenly matched as well.
PAULIE'S Favorite FSU memory:
On a rain-drenched evening in the fall of 2002, Henry Miller ran 25 yards for a touchdown in sudden death overtime as the Cards upset FSU 26-20 in football at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium. It is the wettest I have ever been at a sporting event. The rains started early in the day and continued throughout the whole game. We had rivers running through our tailgate area. Kids were swimming in the ditch by the Green Lot at Papa John's Stadium.
The Louisville fans stormed the field after the win and tore down the goalposts. I sloshed back to my car, glad to be out of the rain. I still hadn't dried out after the 25 minute drive home. Two rain-gear suits and I was still soaked to the bone.
But...oh, what a sweet win it was...
paulie!
"Burt Reynolds attended there and played football. So did Faye Dunaway, Jim Morrison (The Doors) and Hunter S. Thompson. "
ReplyDeleteFaye Dunaway played football! LOL...bit smiley face and some tease.
What, you don't remember the famous FSU backfield of Reynolds, Morrison, Dunaway and Thompson? They'd use Faye as a diversion. Morrison would sing while she did her thing. Reynolds would run the ball and Thompson would offer drugs to anyone who thought about tackling him. They were unstoppable.
ReplyDeleteNice catch, Viv. Sleep dep is a bear....