FSU
On Friday the women’s soccer team clinched a berth in the Women’s College Cup with a 1-0 victory over Penn State. Deyna Castellanos scored the clinching goal in the 53rd minute. FSU will play Stanford on Friday that 730 on ESPNU. With a win the Lady ‘Noles will play the winner of Georgetown/North Carolina matchup on Sunday at 2 PM to try to win its second national championship.
Florida State men’s basketball started the season ranked 17th and after their blowout win versus Florida moved up to 14th. The Seminoles have gone 5-1 since and are now 15th in the AP poll. The five wins have come against Florida, Tulane, Canisius, Alabama Birmingham, LSU and Purdue with the lone loss coming against defending national champ Villanova in the championship of the Advocare Invitational in Orlando this past weekend.
This year’s team is playing with the same type of resiliency and team defense as it did during the Elite Eight run last season. The offense is not quite where Coach Hamilton wants it but when senior forward Phil Cofer comes back he will be able to spread the floor with his shooting to help get Trent Forest and Terrence Mann more lanes to drive the ball to the basket and give other shooters like MJ Walker and PJ Savoy room to get their own shots up. The next game is Monday at home versus Troy.
Well that was a pretty dismal end to Willie Taggart’s first year at Florida State. With the 41-14 loss to the Gators FSU will fail to reach a bowl game since for the first time since 1981 and will not record a winning season for the first since 1976. The lack of discipline was clear once again as the Seminoles racked up 10 penalties. Finding players that will play with discipline will be a key to Taggart’s 2019 recruiting class.
According to Rivals.com, Florida State currently has the 15th ranked recruiting class in the nation. The biggest needs are at offensive line and linebacker. There is only one commitment at o-line and two at linebacker as of now. Those numbers will have to go up for it to be a successful class. The early signing period starts on December 19th.
Junior defensive end Brian Burns was named first team All ACC.
The last opponent for the 2019 season has been finalized with the addition of Alabama State. FSU’s nonconference games next year will be Boise State, Louisiana Monroe, Alabama State and Florida.
Florida State women’s basketball started the season unranked which is unfamiliar for a coach Sue Semrau team. The Seminoles lost their top players, Shakayla Thomas and Imani Wright, who were taken in the WNBA draft. They have had a nice start this season with their only loss coming to LSU. The lady ‘Noles had wins against Troy, North Florida, Florida, Jacksonville, Eastern Kentucky, 12th-ranked Iowa and Penn State last night. ACC head coaches projected that the Seminoles would end the season in 8th place in the conference. I think FSU will make the tournament finishing 8th in ACC but the Seminoles have a winning tradition in women’s hoops and have the talent to finish higher than that. Next up is a trip to Macon to take on Mercer on Wednesday.
After a rough start in the nonconference schedule the volleyball team started rolling against ACC foes. The lady ‘Noles finished the season 19-9 and 15-3 in the conference, which was good enough for second. Florida State made it to the NCAA tournament but was eliminated by Florida in the round of 64 last night.
FAMU
Florida A&M football finished the season 6-5 and 2nd in the MEAC. The 6-5 finish may not seem like the best record considering they started 6-2, but coach Willie Simmons definitely has the program headed in the right direction.
FAMU men’s basketball is 2-4 on the year. Next up is South Alabama in Mobile on Saturday.
FAMU women’s basketball is 0-5. Next up is Edward Waters on Saturday.
Ladies volleyball finished the season 11-13 and won the South division. They lost in the second round of the tournament to North Carolina A&T falling just short of the NCAA tournament.
High School Football
Local teams playing for a spot in their respective state title games:
1A
Port St. Joe at Baker at 730
Hawthorne at Madison County at 730
2A
Victory Christian at North Florida Christian at 730
3A
Kings Academy at Florida High at 730
FSU, FAMU and local high school football things to know added by Scott Carswell Jr on
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