LeiLanni Nesbeth is “super excited” to be heading back to the College Cup for the fourth consecutive year with Florida State University.

The unbeaten Seminoles advanced to the NCAA Championship semi-finals with a convincing 3-0 home win over Atlantic Coast Conference rivals Pitt last Friday and will now do battle with another conference rival, Clemson, with a spot in the final up for grabs at Cary, North Carolina, on Friday.

“I’m super excited about going back to the College Cup,” senior midfielder Nesbeth told The Royal Gazette.

“It’s s very familiar place and Cary has definitely become like home for us, so it’s definitely a comfortable place for us to be and we’re looking forward to it.

“Once again we are playing another familiar team within our conference, the same as Pitt, and this will be our third time playing them in the season.

“They are obviously a good team who are dangerous in the air. We will go over our games against them, both in the regular season as well as the ACC tournament, and see how and where we can exploit them and also clean up on our end.

“I think it’s just important to now come out flying from the start to try and make them uncomfortable.”

Florida State edged Clemson 2-1 in the previous meeting between the two rivals on the way to winning the ACC Championship for the fourth straight time this month.

The top seeds in their bracket, Nesbeth’s sid prevailed against Pitt in the last round of the NCAA Championship on second-half goals from Taylor Huff and Leah Pais, who both converted from the penalty spot, and Onyi Echegini.

“I thought the game was exactly what we expected,” Nesbeth added.

“We are very familiar with that team and what they like to do.

“They came out and pressed us from time to time, which made us have to play faster and look for ways to get in behind them.

“Overall, I thought we handled the pressure well and found ways to still try and build up and get our playmakers in the midfield on the ball.

“I wouldn’t say we were concerned going into the break tied at 0-0. I believe we were in the same position last year against their team and found a way to come out in the second half trying to execute chances better and score some goals, and I feel like we did the same this time around.

“It eas good on our players to earn themselves a pair of penalties and credit to them for their composed finishes as well as one of our best attacking players getting on the ball and doing what she does best, which is to score goals and put us in a good position.

“One of the biggest things we mentioned going into the game was needing to play fast. Pitt want time and space to get into their different rotations and find their playmakers and threats on the offensive, so it was important to press them from top to bottom, force mistakes and take advantage of the spaces that their backline provided.”

BYU, the top seeds in their bracket, will face Stanford in Friday’s other semi-final.

Nesbeth received a huge confidence boost heading into the match after being named to the College Sports Communicators Academic All-District Team.

“It’s pretty cool. I’m finishing up very soon so it’s nice to be acknowledged for an award like that nearing the end of my college experience,” she said.

“It also made my family happy, of course, so I am happy with that.”

Florida State, who have yet to concede a goal in the NCAA Championship tournament, are gunning for a fourth national title.