Florida State soccer eying 4th straight ACC championship facing Clemson on Sunday

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Who: No. 1 Florida State (15-0-1, 9-0-1 ACC) vs. No. 3 Clemson (15-2-3, 7-2-1)

When/Where: Sunday, Nov. 5 at 12 p.m. at WakeMed Soccer Park, Cary, N.C.

TV: ESPNU

Free kicks

• The Seminoles are coming off a thrilling 2-0 victory over Pittsburgh in ACC Tournament semifinals, powered by two second-half goals from freshman Jordynn Dudley and senior Beata Olsson. The goals came just five minutes apart from each other.

• This was Dudley's first game in almost two weeks as the ACC Freshman of the Year sat out against NC State, FSU's final regular season game on Oct. 26. She was "banged up" against Duke and the FSU staff didn't want to risk aggravating an injury even more.

• Head coach Brian Pensky didn't say Dudley was cleared for action at Tuesday's media availability, but would end up starting, and scoring, against Pitt was her 10th goal of the year. Following the game, Dudley said she felt good coming into the game and was appreciative of everything the staff did to "get her to 100%".

• A lot of credit as to why FSU didn't find the back of the net until the second half went to Pitt's defense and its ability to clog up the box. The Seminoles had 19 shots in the game, but only seven on goal as defenders cut off lanes and made movement difficult close to the net. ACC Offensive Player of the Year Onyi Echegini had a team-leading five shots.

What FSU needs to do to win

• Don't get in another 2-0 hole: The last time the Seminoles and the Tigers met, it went down as one of the most memorable games in recent history for FSU, but it also could've gone very bad. 18 minutes into the game, FSU saw itself down 2-0, before scoring four straight goals to win, 4-2. In postseason play, a deficit like that could be lethal and the Seminoles do not want to be in that position again. Clemson also built up an early lead against Notre Dame in its semifinal game and was able to ride it to a 3-2 win.

• Don't give away the game: Clemson's semifinal game was decided on a penalty kick. In the 64th minute, Caroline Conti was awarded a PK and did not miss, putting up 3-1. Notre Dame got another goal but could've easily had a tied game if it weren't for the penalty given up. This is a team that will find any way it can to score and loves to shoot the ball, like FSU, too.

• Play to your strengths: There have been a few games this season where the Seminoles have strayed away from their identity to match what their opponent was giving them. Each time they ended up going back to who they were, and ended up winning. Against Pitt, we really saw FSU lean into that powerful offensive identity, allowing it to pull out the win. If they play their game, the Seminoles could be raising a fourth straight ACC Championship by sunset.

NCAA RPI rankings

The NCAA Tournament bracket will be announced on Monday at 4 p.m. on NCAA.com. These are the current NCAA RPI rankings as of Nov. 2. The top 16 teams will host first-round games upon the reveal of the bracket.

1. BYU, 2. FSU, 3. UCLA, 4. Penn State, 5. Brown, 6. Clemson, 7. Arkansas, 8. Stanford, 9. Texas Tech, 10. Notre Dame, 11. Princeton, 12. North Carolina, 13. Georgetown, 14. St. Louis, 15. Memphis, 16. Georiga.

CORRECTION: An earlier headline on this story incorrectly said FSU soccer was going for its third straight ACC championship. It would be their fourth.

Jack Williams covers Florida State athletics for Tallahassee Democrat. Contact him via email at jwilliams@tallahassee.com or on Twitter @jackgwilliams. 

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Florida State rematches with Clemson for ACC Championship Sunday