TALLAHASSEE — No. 1 Florida State opens their 2022 season on Thursday evening at 7 pm when they travel to face No. 12 South Carolina at 7 pm in Columbia, SC The season-opening match for the Seminoles will be shown on SEC Network. FSU enters the season ranked No. 1 in the country for the fifth time in program history and third time over the past four years.
“We are excited. Obviously this day is a long time coming, since late April when I got here obviously,” FSU Soccer first-year head coach Brian Pensky said on Tuesday. “In terms of our team and our preparation, we were out here two weeks ago as we started preseason and we know a lot more about each other and about our players and what we have and what we’re all about. I feel like we “re pretty prepared. I think our team is pretty confident, but knowing that South Carolina is going to present a challenge for sure.”
Pensky, who finally took the field with the team at the beginning of August, shared some of what he has learned about his squad, who enter the season as the defending National Champions.
“I always kind of knew this watching, but they are obviously really skilled, but they have a really good feel for the game. They are intelligent. They know how to find the ball. They know how to find pockets of space. They play together really well, especially the veteran players,” Pensky said. “There are a lot of small things that don’t need to be taught, because they just feel it. For me, it is just finding out what they need to hear from me and what they don’t need to hear from me, and what are the things we want and expect from them. I think those are the biggest things.
“I think on the other end they’ve learned a lot about me and my coaching style. How I treat them and speak to them and empower them and what our expectations are,” Pensky added.
FSU returns 12 players from the 2021 National Championship Team, including the top two point scorers (Beata Olsson & Clara Robbins) and four of the top five point getters (Olsson, Robbins, Jody Brown & Jenna Nighswonger). The Noles also returned 62% of their goals scored and 55% of their assists from a season ago. Seven starters from the National Championship win return and nine players total that appeared in the game are back for the Seminoles this season.
The complete video interview with Pensky from Tuesday can be seen below, where he speaks more about some of his individual players as well as what he knows about the Gamecocks from his time at Tennessee:
The last time the Seminoles and the Gamecocks met it was with a trip to the College Cup on the line in 2014. The second ranked Seminoles defeated No. 18 South Carolina 5-0 to head to their fourth straight College Cup on the way to Florida State’s second National Title in program history.
Florida State is 21-5-1 all-time on opening day, including a mark of 14-1-1 when opening the season at home and a 6-4 mark when opening up on the road. FSU has won 13 straight season openers, outscoring the opposition 34-3.
FSU wraps up their opening weekend road trip with a match against Georgia on Sunday at 1 pm That match can be seen on ESPNU.
The first home match of the 2022 season will be next Thursday, August 25th, at 6 pm against Auburn. That match will be shown on the ACC Network.