FSU Soccer ready to open 2023 season with challenging trip to Texas A&M, TCU

After falling to North Carolina in the College Cup last year, the Florida State women’s soccer team is ready to return to the field. And the Seminoles are starting the 2023 season with quite a challenge.

FSU is traveling to face Texas A&M on Thursday, then heading north to Fort Worth for a top-10 matchup with TCU on Sunday.

“That’s one of the toughest environments, like I said last week, in college soccer,” second-year Florida State coach Brian Pensky said of Texas A&M.

As a former coach of the Tennessee Volunteers, Pensky has seen his fair share of the Aggies during their battles in the Southeastern Conference.

Since he went to Rocky Top in 2012, Pensky has posted a 5-2 record against A&M. The Aggies were ranked in the top 20 for four of those wins.

“First games are always tough because you typically don’t have preseason video …,” Pensky said. “So we looked at some video from last year. They have some veteran attacking players. Athletic, good on the ball, a couple of good goal scorers.

“Playing at Texas A&M, it’s usually a mojo-ish place … a good crowd. They like to play with energy. They’ve got those attacking personalities. They like to put you under pressure, they like to press you, and they like to be a little bit hectic. For us, we have to manage their special players, and be organized defensively.”

Along with eight returning starters, Florida State brought in seven new players for the 2023 season. Four of those seven are transfers, including two graduate transfers.

And the Seminoles also have had to cope with missing some key players during the summer while they participated in the FIFA World Cup.

“Today is the first time all preseason where we had all 22 of our players,” Pensky said on Tuesday. “So it felt really good this morning in our video room to have our team.”

To prepare for Thursday’s season opener, Florida State was able to get valuable experience in a preseason matchup with UCF this past week. The graduate transfers, Leah Pias from Pittsburgh and Lily Farkas from Michigan, each scored goals.

But Pensky said it was the Seminoles’ youngest players who gained the most valuable experience.

“For the three freshmen, playing in their first college game … just getting that experience is just massive,” he said. “Got to take away the bright-eyed, the big lights, the pace of the game, and the urgency, and every moment matters.”

The Seminoles will take on Texas A&M on the SEC Network at 8 p.m. ET.

Talk about this story with other die-hard FSU football fans on the Tribal Council.

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