Florida State soccer wins 5th National Championship at KC Current’s CPKC Stadium

It took 87 minutes for someone to find the back of the net in the NCAA Division I Women’s Soccer Championship Game on Monday night at CPKC Stadium.

Despite a largely dominating performance by No. 1 Stanford, the No. 3 Florida State Seminoles won their fifth national championship with a last-minute goal by Wrianna Hudson.

Final score: Florida State 1, Stanford 0.

“I’m just so elated for our team,” said Florida State coach Brian Pensky. “The toughness and resilience that grew within this group over the fall, their elation says it all.”

Stanford (21-1-3) started hot. Its best chance to score came in the game’s opening 10 minutes. A header destined for the net was saved by Florida State (16-2-4) goalkeeper Kate Ockene. She saved another goal-bound header on the ensuing corner kick.

“At the end of the day, the goalkeeper’s job is to keep the ball out of the back of the net,” Pensky said. “Kate does that really, really well.”

Ockene is a freshman and just turned 19 on Sunday. Despite her young age, Pensky says she has a big presence and command within the team.

“Our team loves her,” Pensky continued. “The combination of loving her like that and her making big plays, it energizes the group and most importantly kept us in the game.”

Ockene would make nine saves for her eighth shutout of the year and was named the NCAA Tournament’s most outstanding defensive player.

Stanford hadn’t been shut out since a 1-0 loss to UCLA on September 7 — its only loss until the championship game.

For a while, it looked like the Cardinal might break through.

Stanford dominated possession overall and took twice as many shots as Florida State through 75 scoreless minutes at the KC Current’s home stadium.

“Even though we didn’t have possession all game, we still came out on top because we were together,” Ockene said.

Indeed, it doesn’t matter how many shots a team takes. All it needs is just one to get past the goalkeeper.

And awarded a late corner kick in the second half, with just three minutes left, Florida State took its chance.

After the initial corner was cleared, Florida State put the ball right back into the mix when sophomore forward Taylor Suarez played a pass across the face of goal. Stanford defender Elise Evans tried to clear it out, but it popped right back to Hudson for a tap-in.

“I had so much trust in (Suarez) because she is a phenomenal playmaker,” Hudson said. “So I thought I had to be somewhere where I could at least try. She did get the ball across, and I got the goal.”

Hudson, a sophomore, scored the winner in the semifinals on Friday night. She was named the most outstanding offensive player.

“I say it all the time, she’s got ice in her veins,” Pensky said of Hudson, who scored three separate winners in the final three minutes of a game this season.

Both Ockene and Hudson said the experience of playing at CPKC Stadium and winning a national championship there was special.

“As soon as I stepped out on the field, I pictured all the other amazing women who played on this field, like the KC Current team,” Hudson said. “It’s completely unreal that we got to play on this field. So I’m truly grateful.”

Daniel Sperry covers soccer for The Star. He can be reached at sperry.danielkc@gmail.com.

This story was originally published December 8, 2025 at 9:09 PM.