Florida State beat Stanford 5-1 in Cary, NC in early December to win a championship capping an unbeaten season. It is Florida State’s 4th title in 10 seasons (and I’d argue two of best FSU teams in that run didn’t win the title) and demonstrated once again FSU not the University of North Carolina (which is the favored program of so many in US Soccer and soccer media) is the top women’s program in America. This win came the day after Florida State was denied a chance to play for a college football national title by an arbitrary decision of a committee.

I’ll save my rants about FSU > UNC which has been a consistent fixture of my rhetoric for many years for another time. Most of you are probably sick of it by now. Let’s talk about FSU’s impact on soccer in Florida.

Forget Messi and with all due respect to the great work Orlando City and the Tampa Bay Rowdies have done. No story in Florida soccer over the last two decades to me has done more for the game in this state, the game I work in live and breathe daily then the sustained long-term success of the Florida State women.

It’s not just four national championships in 10 years now. It’s 10 college cups in 13 years. It’s the inspiration FSU has given to young girls all over the state to play the sport. It’s the way they’ve integrated immigrant communities and foreign players into their mix to create a unique culture around the program, in what is after all a global game.

Interest in the sport in this state as well as grassroots development has improved remarkably the last decade, thanks to academies, soccer professionals and a deeper commitment from investors is. So much of it owes itself to the Seminole’s sustained success and the way they play (which is as important as the success in terms of results. It’s the playing principles that matter- evolution of style and tactics . The style of play Florida State has employed defied the old “kick and run” while depending on athleticism mantra of US Soccer (ie UNC, okay I’ll lay off my shots for now) and made soccer interesting to those in this state who long felt it was a boring game. Additionally, FSU alumni across the state became more involved in the sport and we’ve seen the birth of clubs playing pro or semiprofessional soccer on both the men’s and women’s side as a result.

I’m obviously not a FSU person, having gone to the University of Florida and counting myself as a lifelong University of Miami fan. But nonetheless I have found myself rooting for them & admiring the FSU program for over a decade now, even attending the final when they won their first national championship (vs Virginia who featured Morgan Brian at the time, someone who would start for the USWNT in the FIFA Women’s World Cup Final less than seven months later), not as a media member but to watch them as a Floridian and soccer aficionado.

This was because I realized already in 2014 how important that program had become for what I do and what I love. Another national championship and this one finished in style last night.

Congratulations to the Noles and thank you for everything you do! You’ve moved the ball forward for soccer in this state in a way few could have imagined.