By PAUL GOTHAM
For the second time in as many games, Wrianna Hudson connected on a late goal to lift Florida State to a victory.
This time it was for a national title.
The former Greece Athena star found the back of the net in the 86th minute as the third-seeded Seminoles (16-2-4) defeated top-seeded Stanford (21-2-2) in the 2025 NCAA College Cup National Championship game, Monday night.
The goal was Hudson’s fourth of the postseason. She also delivered the game winner in FSU’s win over TCU in the national semifinal on Friday.
“I say it all the time, she’s got ice in her veins,” commented FSU head coach Brian Pensky who noted that Hudson also scored the game-winning goal a year ago in the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game. “She’s calm in those moments, and she’s clutch.
“When I saw that ball coming across the box with Wri inside the six, I knew. You have these feelings, that’s not going to be a goal or that might be a goal. I knew unequivocally that that was going to be a goal.”
The play started with a corner kick from the flag. Stanford made the initial play on the ball, but FSU’s Yuna McCormack stopped that clearing attempt. Janet Okeke played a diagonal ball to the right flank that hit Taylor Suarez in stride. Suarez, with her first touch, served a cross that Stanford’s Elise Evans deflected.
Hudson was waiting far post and one-timed a shot into an open net.
FLORIDA STATE FINDS A WAY IN FRONT 🤯🤯🤯#WCollegeCup x 🎥 ESPNU / @FSUSoccer pic.twitter.com/7G60nhzLp8
— NCAA Soccer (@NCAASoccer) December 9, 2025
“In the moment, I saw Taylor trying to get the ball out wide,” the 6-foot-2 sophomore said. “I have so much trust in her because she is a phenomenal playmaker, so I had to be somewhere that I could at least try. She did get the ball across and I got the goal, thankfully, for her. It’s me trusting her because I know she is going to do things.”
The win was the sixth straight for the Seminoles which had a three-game winless stretch in mid-October.
“It’s our team’s constant work ethic and willingness to fight,” said Hudson who was named Most Outstanding Offensive Player. “We did go through a lot of hard times during that game, but I don’t think any of us gave up. We kept pushing and pushing.”
Freshman keeper Kate Ockene made nine saves including a pair of point-blank attempts early in the game and was named Most Outstanding Defensive Player.
Monday’s championship was the second in three years and fifth in program history. Florida State defeated Stanford in the 2023 final.
The Cardinal opened the game in a press and had five shots in the opening 15 minutes of action.
Hudson’s goal was FSU’s third shot on goal of the game.
A First-Team All-State selection as a junior when she scored 32 goals and added seven assists, Hudson returned from injury midway through her senior year to lead Athena to the Class A semifinals. She had the SportsCenter Top Play of the Day during her senior year.
A Fourth Team All-Region selection in 2025 and ACC All-Freshman team member a year ago, Hudson led Florida State with 15 goals this season.
Hudson joins former USWNT team star and Our Lady of Mercy Monarch, Abby Wambach as Section V student-athletes who have gone on to win a women’s national title. Wambach was part of the University of Florida squad that defeated North Carolina, 1-0 in the 1998 national championship game.
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