Virginia Tech Completes Historic Comeback Against No. 6 Florida State

Miles Jordan

Staff Writer

October 6, 2024

BLACKSBURG – Virginia Tech (9-3-2, 4-1-1 ACC) defeated No. 6 Florida State (7-2-2, 2-2-1) in dramatic fashion on Sunday afternoon at Thompson Field, scoring three goals in the final 11 minutes to capture a 3-2 victory over the defending national champions for the Hokies’ first win over the Seminoles in program history. 

Taylor Price netted the game-winning goal in the 86th minute, punctuating Tech’s historic comeback within the waning moments of the game. 

“I can't even explain it, something took over me. I just ran to the fans. The energy was absolutely unbelievable in here,” Price said. “The ball that was played to me was amazing. I saw that the front post was open and honestly just hit it as hard as I could and hoped for the best.”

While she capped off Tech’s late-game-comeback, Price was not the only Hokie to find the back of the net in the game's final minutes. 

Forward Sarah Rosenbaum put the maroon and orange on the board, playing the ball in the top left of the Noles’ goal with her head in the 79th minute, which ignited the home crowd in Blacksburg.  

Just five minutes later, Tech defender Kylie Marschall followed up Rosenbaum’s score with a goal of her own, finding the same spot in the back of the net in the 84th minute to tie the game at two goals a piece with just six minutes remaining. 

Hokies forward Natalie Mitchell also found the back of the net in the 80th minute, outrunning her defender to get to the ball and knocking it in the back of the net after sprinting to the box to find a volley from Price. However, it was ruled on the field that she was offside. After a lengthy review, the referees ultimately upheld the offside ruling.

Tech’s second-half efforts proved that the Noles could not keep the Hokies out of their defensive third in the final 25 minutes of the game. Even though Tech was down 2-0, the momentum always seemed to favor the Hokies in the second half. Tech was awarded five corner kicks in the second half, compared to just one in the first half — a huge reason the Noles were constantly playing on their heels. 

“Once we got our foot on the gas, we did not stop,” Price said. “Even after that goal got called back, there was still that energy out on the field, and I fed off that.”

After being deadlocked at 0-0 to start the second half, Hokies defender Allie George brought down Seminoles forward Jordynn Dudley in the box in the 50th minute, and FSU was awarded a penalty kick. The Noles capitalized and took a 1-0 lead when Dudley converted the penalty with precision, shooting the ball into the back of the net.

The Noles did not take their foot off the gas, as midfielder Lara Dantas found the back of the net in the 66th minute after a beautiful cross from midfielder Carissa Boeckmann, improving FSU’s lead to 2-0. 

Even after letting up two goals to a top-10 team in the nation, the Hokies did not let up, and neither did the fans. Tech's home-field advantage was evident and a critical factor in its momentum shift, allowing it to come away with a victory. 

“This fandom that we have here is so supportive, and having them show out for us today, stay the entire game, and not give up on us is so important,” said Price. “Just feeding off their energy and hearing them going crazy, they were a huge key point in us winning this game today because we built off their momentum.”

The excitement of the finale almost clouds the first half, where five yellow cards were shown to each team’s players and twice to FSU’s bench. Though there were a high number of yellow cards shown, it seemed that the referee still missed multiple calls on both sides, causing the game to become chippy very quickly. 

That aggression carried into the second half when three more yellow cards were shown: two to the Seminoles as Dantas and forward Giana Riley were booked in the same instance for unsporting conduct and dissent, and two minutes later to George for unsporting conduct. These fouls fired up both programs, sparking Dantas’ goal in the 66th minute for the Noles and bringing out the passion on Tech’s side, which led to its last-minute comeback.

The Hokies return to Thompson Field on Thursday for another ACC matchup, hoping to carry over their momentum against SMU (7 p.m. ET, ACC Network Extra).