Soccer: No. 9 TCU falls to No. 6 Florida State in Top-10 showdown

It was a heated contest Sunday night between No. 9 TCU and No. 6 Florida State, and not just the 106-degree on-field game-time temperature at Garvey-Rosenthal Stadium. Right from the opening minutes it was a chippy and physical battle, as an early incident resulted in yellow cards for both teams as TCU defender Brenna Brosam jockeyed for position with FSU forward Jordynn Dudley, Dudley grabbed Brosam by the head and slung her to the ground. It was only the beginning of the back and forth physical play from both squads as there would ultimately be 32 total fouls called (17 on FSU, 15 on TCU), to go with many more that went uncalled - including Gracie Brian getting shoved to the ground in the box during the first half for what certainly could have been a penalty. TCU’s best opportunity came been just three minutes into the game as a terrific Cam Lancaster cross just missed the head of Gracie Brian, but found the feet of Olivia Hasler just outside the six yard box; she fired a shot, but the FSU defender did enough to block it and erase the early opportunity. Although both squads had a few scoring opportunities, each managed just a single shot on goal in the first half as the game went into the break scoreless

The second half was similarly physical, but the Frogs were unable to generate anything on the offensive end. Despite owning a possession advantage (57%) and a shots advantage (9 to 8) for the game, TCU only earned one corner kick and was unable to get any additional shots on frame, leaving Seminole goalkeeper Cristina Roque unbothered after the break. Florida State did find open space to run in the second half and after 70 minutes finally broke through with two scores in four minutes to knock off the Horned Frogs in Fort Worth

The Seminoles improved to 2-0 on their Texas road trip to open the season and will now get two weeks off before a home contest vs. South Florida on Sunday September 3.

TCU falls to 1-1 on the season and will have another top ten showdown, this time on the road, traveling to Penn State to take on the No. 10 Nittany Lions on Sunday August 27, to be broadcast on B1G+. The Frogs will be back in Garvey-Rosenthal on Thursday August 31 at 7 PM, broadcast on ESPN+.