2023 Women’s College Cup to be Hosted by Florida State and Clemson

Top seeds Florida State and Clemson will square off in the NCAA Women’s College Cup semifinals on Friday at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, North Carolina, in a rematch of the 2023 Ally ACC Women’s Soccer Championship title match. The victor advances to the championship match on Monday.

ESPNU will broadcast all three College Cup games, starting on Friday with the Seminoles and Tiges facing off for the third time this year. The game is set to begin at six o’clock. Stanford, ranked second, and BYU, ranked first, square off in the second semifinal at 8:30 p.m. as potential members of the ACC. The National Championship game is slated to take place at 6 December 4th, Mondaycember 4.

The ACC will advance to the National Championship game, continuing the league’s tradition of sending a team to the championship game each season since 2018. During the past three seasons, Florida State has made two appearances in the College Cup final.

The Seminoles are going for their second straight national title in the last three years. As of now in the 2023 NCAA Tournament, FSU has not given up a goal, making history as the first team to do so since North Carolina in 2020 while en route to the College Cup. In their last four games, the Seminoles have outscored their opponents 14-0 since upsetting Clemson 2-1 in the ACC championship. With 39 career shutouts, goalie Cristina Roque is tied for second-most among active Division I goalies.

Clemson enters the College Cup for the first time and advances to the Final Four as the tenth different team from the existing membership. During the Tigers’ NCAA Tournament run, goalie Halle Mackiewicz, who has played the most minutes of any Division I goalkeeper, has made eight saves, not counting a crucial stop in Clemson’s 5-3 shootout victory over Georgia in the third round.

This will be Florida State and Clemson’s third meeting of the season; the Seminoles have prevailed in the first two. On September 15, during the regular season, the clubs squared off in a six-goal thriller that the Noles won 4-2 inside Historic Riggs Field. On November 5, the clubs rematched in the conference final game. FSU won 2-1 thanks to goals from ACC Player of the Year Onyi Echegini, and it won its fourth straight title.

First Round of the NCAA Tournament
November 10th, Friday
Florida State 5, Morehead State 0 at the top
Towson 1 at #3 North Carolina 3.
Clemson 2, Radford 0 at #1

November 11, a Saturday
@ 2 Notre Dame Street #3, Valparaiso
Pitt 6 at #7, Ohio State 0

Second Round of the NCAA Tournament
November 17, Friday
#6 Alabama 0 vs. #3 North Carolina 1
  Texas’s Lubbock
versus #3 Notre Dame 2, #6 Memphis 3, and
  Fayetteville, ArFayetteville, the Ark. , #8 Columbia 1
at #8 Texas A&M 0 and #1 Florida State 1.
#2 Arkansas 3, at #7 Pitt 4

Third Round of the NCAA Tournament
November 19, a Sunday
#2 Texas Tech 0, at #3 North Carolina 1.
#4 Georgia 1 and #1 Clemson 1
  Clemson wins the penalty kicks 5-3.
at #5 Texas 0 and #1 Florida State 5.
#6 Memphis 0 versus #7 Pitt 3
 Fayetteville, Ark.

NCAA Basketball – Round of 32
November 24, Friday
#7 Pitt 0 at #1 Florida State 3.
@ #3 North Carolina 3, #1 BYU 4.

November 25, a Saturday
@ Clemson 2, Penn State 1, and #2

College Cup Semifinal
December 1st, Friday
#1 Clemson vs. #1 Florida State | 6 p.m. | ESPNU
  Cary, North Carolina.

Final of the NCAA Tournament – College Cup
Monday, December 4
#1 BYU/#2 Stanford vs. #1 Florida State/#1 Clemson | 6 p.m. | ESPNU
  Cary, North Carolina.

Rankings determined by the NCAA Tournament seeds

Taking note of ACC Women’s Soccer
• The ACC has amass•d the most victories and greatest winning percentage among all leagues with an overall record of 14-3-1 (.806) through the first four rounds of the NCAA Tournament. The Women’s College Cup this year features •any teams from only one conference, the ACC.
• With Clemson and Florida State moving on, the ACC now has 19 straight College Cup appearances under its belt. Three times in the last four seasons and nine times since 2011, the ACC has sent multiple teams to the College Cup.
• Since 1982, the current membership has won 27 national titles and sent at least one team to every College Cup. With 21 crowns, North Carolina has outscored Florida State and Notre Dame combined.
• The ACC has sent the most teams to the College Cup since 2018—11 teams total. Only six members of the next closest conference (PAC-12) have been sent.
• Making its first-ever appearance in the College Cup, Clemson becomes the 10th different ACC team to advance to the national semifinals.
• Florida State is making its fourth-straight appearance and 14th trip overall to the College Cup, the second-most appearances by an ACC team (North Carolina – 31).
• With Florida State and Clemson both securing No. 1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament this year, the ACC is the only conference to do so. Excluding the 2020 shorten-field tournament, the ACC has earned multiple No. 1 seeds for six straight seasons.
• Florida State is one of only two undefeated teams in Division I and holds the best winning percentage in the country at .976. The Seminoles have shut out all four of their opponents in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2015. The Seminoles this year became the first team to reach the College Cup without giving up a goal since North Carolina in 2020.
• Of the 16 teams that have advanced to the Elite Eight the last two seasons, nine have been from the ACC.
• The ACC has had the most or tied for the most Elite Eight teams in each of the last four seasons. The next closest conference has only sent five teams to the Elite Eight throughout that time, whereas 16 ACC teams have progressed.
• The Seminoles lead the ACC and are fourth in the country with 68 goals, while Florida State, Pitt, and Clemson are among the top 10 teams in the country in terms of total goals scored. Clemson is eighth with 56, and Pitt is sixth with 64. At 3.24 goals per game, the Seminoles have the best scoring attack in the country.
• Florida State’s Onyi Echegini, Eva Gaetino of Notre Dame, and Jordynn Dudley of Florida State, three ACC players, were selected semifinalists for the 2023 MAC Hermann Trophy. The last three seasons, the trophy has been won by an ACC player.
• Clemson goalkeeper Halle Mackiewicz broke the program record in the Tigers’ 2023 Ally ACC Women’s Soccer Tournament first-round victory over Wake Forest. With 13 shutouts, Mackiewicz is tied for the most in the country among Division I goalkeepers this season. The 13 clean sheets are the highest total for an ACC goalie since Claudia Dickey of North Carolina recorded 15 in 2020.