CARY, N.C. — Allie Montoya and Maya Doms each scored in the opening four minutes and Stanford held off BYU 2-0 on Friday night to advance to its sixth championship appearance in school history.
Stanford (20-0-4), in the College Cup for the 11th time, will play Florida State for the title on Monday. Stanford has won three national titles (2011, 2017, 2019), including two of the past six overall.
Florida State (21-0-1) beat Clemson 2-0 to advance to the title game for the fourth time in the past five seasons. Clemson (18-4-4) was making the program’s first appearance in the national semifinal. The Seminoles, in their 14th College Cup, beat the Tigers for the third straight time this season and eighth straight overall. The Seminoles’ second series victory this season secured the program’s fourth straight ACC championship.
Kaitlyn Zipay scored her fourth goal of the season in the 38th minute to open the scoring for Florida State. Zipay, who entered as a substitute in the 30th, ran past the defense for Heather Gilchrist’s over-the-shoulder pass and one-touched it home.
Freshman Jordynn Dudley scored on a breakaway in the 53rd for her 13th goal of the season and third of the NCAA tournament.
Florida State is now unbeaten in 160 games when leading at the half, with the last loss coming on Sept. 3, 2010.
In the second semifinal, Montoya and Doms both topped Stanford’s previous quickest goal of the season of eight minutes.
Montoya lofted a shot over the outstretched arm of goalkeeper Lynette Hernaez for her second goal of the season. Doms settled a pass near the midfield circle and took three touches before sending in a shot from distance for her 11th of the year. Doms has five goals and two assists in her past seven games, including a winner in the first of two overtime periods last Friday.
BYU (20-3-3) threatened to end Stanford’s run of 13 straight shutouts in the second half when Ellie Bore was left open for a shot off the crossbar. A review confirmed the ball did not cross the goal line.
Stanford goalkeeper Ryan Campbell held BYU, the No. 1 goal-scoring team in Division I, scoreless for just the second time this season. The Cardinal are unbeaten in 36 straight matches.
It was the second straight game BYU faced an early two-goal deficit. The Cougars trailed North Carolina 3-0 in the opening 20 minutes of the quarterfinals before responding with four unanswered goals, including three in the final 10 minutes to reach the College Cup for the second time in three years.
Stanford avenged a 5-4 shootout loss to BYU in the second round of last season’s NCAA tournament.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
