FSU soccer kickoff season against USF 1 win away from tying program undefeated record

Florida State soccer walked off the field at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, North Carolina as national champions 252 days ago, beating Stanford 5-1 to claim the program's third national title.

Now just days away from the kickoff of the 2024 regular season, the top-ranked Seminoles are set to start the program's national title defense on the road, traveling to the University of South Florida (USF) for the first time since 2003.

The Seminoles have not lost since the 2022 NCAA College Cup semifinal 3-2 defeat to North Carolina. The program went unbeaten in 2023, posting a 22-0-1 record, and start the 2024 season one game shy of tying the program's all-time unbeaten run of 24 games, set in 2014-15.

Facing the Bulls on Thursday, FSU returns home for a matchup against the University of North Florida on Sunday, the first of four straight home matches.

Seminoles head coach Brian Pensky enters his third year with excitement about his team after a 5-2 preseason win over Texas Christian University. Pensky said there is a lot of potential in his squad, but there are still some things to work on early on.

"I think we are a pretty athletic team, I'd like to think we are a pretty deep team," Pensky said. "You never want to be a one-dimensional team, we scored five goals the other night and they came from five different players. Pretty good on the attacking end, what we learned is we need to sure things up from a set piece standpoint."

Entering the season with 14 new players, seven freshmen and seven transfers, Pensky's only had his full roster of players for the last 10 days.

The Seminoles return seven starters from last season's national title-winning squad, including ACC and National Freshman of the Year Jordynn Dudley. The forward was an All-American for the Seminoles, scoring 10 goals and assisting four in her debut campaign, but even with that early success, Pensky sees another level for Dudley to reach this year.

"She's getting more comfortable in her own skin as a player in this program," Pensky said. "This might sound crazy, because she was an animal out there on the field last year, but she was also deferring a little bit and waiting for some direction."

"Now she's a little bit more comfortable grabbing the bull by the reigns."

Pensky prepared for loss of six U-20 World Cup players

The FIFA U-20 World Cup is scheduled for Aug. 31 to Sep. 22, in Colombia, and six Seminoles will be representing their nations at the tournament.

Four players will represent the United States team, with Dudley, forward Giana Riley, defender Heather Gilchrist, and forward Taylor Suarez all selected to the roster.

Midfielder Marianyela Jiménez was selected to the Venezuela U-20 national team for the World Cup, and fellow midfielder Lara Dantas was selected to the Brazil U-20 team.

While the loss of the players forces Pensky to utilize a smaller squad for potentially a month, he said he's excited about seeing his players compete at the international level and knows his team will be ready to step up.

''Everybody wants to play, everybody comes here and has high individual hopes for themselves," Pensky said. "They all know in that three to four-week segment, they are going to get their opportunity and get a chance to show us that they can play and help us win at a high level."

Talented transfers Giana Riley, Carissa Boeckmann ready to contribute

Carissa Boeckmann is familiar with FSU.

Her college playing career at Texas A&M started with a match against the Seminoles, and fittingly, it ended with a match against the Seminoles during last season's NCAA tournament.

Now the midfielder dawns the Garnet and Gold of the Seminoles.

"It's pretty much full circle," Boeckmann said. "I bring experience, obviously new to this team but I've been playing college soccer for three years. You learn what's happening and how other teams play and what you need to bring to the table."

Boeckmann was a three-year player for the Aggies, starting 31 of the 60 games she played for the team, scoring six and assisting 10 from midfield. She said she was drawn to the Seminoles program because of the winning culture that Pensky has.

Riley has been with the program for just over a week after spending time at the United States U-20 training camp. Despite being fresh on campus, Pensky said the talented forward scored three in an intrasquad scrimmage and she added an assist in the preseason match against TCU.

She scored 17 goals and assisted seven in her two seasons at Gonzaga, and like Boeckmann, she was drawn in by Pensky and the culture he set in Tallahassee. She said when the Seminoles came calling, it was an easy choice to make.

Still adapting and learning the system, Riley said she wants to get as much experience as she can before leaving for the U-20 World Cup.

"I'm just trying to be like a sponge and take everything in and ask questions when I need to," Riley said. "I like the style of play. It's a possession style and we always look to go forward and get runs in behind and we get to use our speed."

FSU soccer's 2024 schedule

BOLD = Home

Plain text = Away

• Aug. 15 @ South Florida

• Aug. 18 vs. University of North Florida

• Aug. 22 vs. Rice

• Aug. 29 vs. No. 14 Georgia

• Sep. 1 vs. Villanova

• Sep. 8 @ Florida

• Sep. 19 vs. Syracuse

• Sep. 22 @ SMU

• Sep. 26 vs. No. 5 Clemson

• Oct. 3 @ Wake Forest

• Oct. 6 @ Virginia Tech

• Oct. 12 @ Boston College

• Oct. 17 vs. Virginia

• Oct. 20 vs. No. 7 Pittsburgh

• Oct. 25 vs. No. 8 North Carolina

• Oct. 31 @ Miami

Liam Rooney covers preps sports for the Tallahassee Democrat. Contact him via email at LRooney@gannett.com or on Twitter @__liamrooney

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: FSU soccer head coach Brian Pensky ready for season, NCAA title