Wake Forest defeated Florida State 3-1 on Wednesday in an ACC Women’s Soccer Tournament 1st round match in Cary, NC. Florida State coach Mark Krikorian, whose team is 12th in the latest NCAA RPI ranking and a gimme to make the postseason field, opted to leave 10 starters at home and used mostly reserves in the contest.

The action has caused no small reaction around the college soccer community, with the chatter among coaches and fans reaching high frequency yesterday. The fire was stoked considerably by an article in Thursday’s Raleigh News Observer, which quoted ACC associate commissioner Nora Lynn Finch as being critical of Krikorian’s move, citing the integrity of the tournament being “distorted.” Finch was also quoted as saying Wake Forest’s players were “cheated” at not being able to play a full-strength Seminoles’ team.

Update: ACC Commissioner John Swofford released the following statement late Thursday afternoon: “I’m highly disappointed in the decision Florida State made in not bringing its starters to the ACC Women’s Soccer Championship.  Our league has a long and rich national tradition in women’s soccer and the integrity of our championships should never be compromised.  FSU’s action is disrespectful to our teams, players, coaches and the fans that support the ACC. It undermines the purity of the competition that a conference championship deserves.  The value of sportsmanship and leadership runs deep in this league and both were lacking when Florida State made the decision to not participate in good faith at the ACC Championship.  Conference action on this matter will be forthcoming.”


Other observers, none on the record, have mentioned that the lineup allowed Wake Forest a chance to substitute more liberally, thus making it fresher for a Friday semifinal matchup vs. North Carolina.

Some have mentioned the match result could affect RPI and thus NCAA selection, but Wake Forest was assured of reaching the tournament even before Wednesday’s win. Demon Deacons’ coach Tony da Luz was quoted in the article as saying he fully understands Krikorian’s decision.

The Seminoles had completed a road trip to Maryland and Boston College on the weekend before the tournament, returning home to Tallahassee early Monday morning before returning to the Raleigh-area, sans the 10 players, on Tuesday.

Krikorian told TopDrawerSoccer.com on Thursday morning that the decision is not hard to understand from a soccer perspective, noting that top professional clubs like Manchester United commonly will leave large numbers of starters out of the lineup for matches preceding bigger matches.

“In the world of soccer the physical demands are such that everyone has to recognize you have to watch out for the biggest picture. I think it’s pretty clear what that biggest picture is for us and we are going to continue to do what is in the best interest of our student athletes,” Krikorian said. “Our kids are 100 percent on board with what we did. The kids who did not play are thrilled for the other kids who got the chance to play against a very good Wake Forest team. We are happy to come back home with no injuries. Our players played to win and gave a good effort, but Wake was better on the day and deserved to win. Now we will prepare for hopefully a berth in the NCAA.”

Krikorian admitted he was surprised to read Finch’s critical comments in the newspaper article.

“I have to say I was. I don’t know that person, but unless maybe she’s done an awful lot of homework about the physical demands in sport, the minutes our kids played prior to the tournament, looked at their heart rate monitors, took a look at their academic demands … if they’ve done all that homework then they are probably educated enough to speak like that about what we did,” he said. “I’m a little surprised the comments went in that direction, but I guess people can say whatever they want. At Florida State, the welfare of the student athlete is our highest priority.”

The Florida State players who normally start but were left at home for the ACC Tournament include Janice Cayman, Tori Huster, Amanda DaCosta, Casey Short, Rachel Lim, Toni Pressley, Kassey Kallman, Ines Jaurena, Tiana Brockway and Kelsey Wys.

The decision touches on the value and wisdom of postseason conference tournaments, which typically have teams playing up to 3 matches in a 5-day period. Krikorian believes it is a concept worth revisiting.

“That’s a much bigger discussion. I think there’s a lot of discussion about what’s in the best interest of conferences,” he said. “Probably every conference is going through this debate at some level. The Big 10, the West Coast conference, the PAC 10 don’t have conference tournaments. I think all of us at an elite level of soccer, recognize that five road games in a 10-day span is a formula for potential problems.”

Krikorian also likened the decision to one he made coaching the U.S. U19 Women’s National Team at the 2004 FIFA World Cup, holding out top player Megan Rapinoe from a match to avoid yellow card suspension, or as a head coach of the Philadelphia Charge in WUSA, resting veteran players from matches to prepare for other games. He also cited track and field as an example, noting runners in conference meets like the ACC may use the competition as a warm-up, working on tempo rather than trying to win, in preparation for the NCAA or other big meets coming afterward.