Penn State women’s soccer is just one win from a spot in the College Cup, but the potential feat seemed much more like a reach two months ago.

Coming off a loss at home to Nebraska, the Nittany Lions slipped to 6-5 and were going to fall outside the Top 25 in the poll’s next release. Forget about the College Cup, the postseason wasn’t yet a guarantee — the team sat on the NCAA Tournament bubble. 

Yet here’s Penn State, having reached the Elite Eight for the fourth time in the last five years after embarking on a 13-match unbeaten streak since that loss to the Cornhuskers. The Nittany Lions won 12 of those, with the lone exception a draw in the Big Ten Tournament championship match in which Minnesota claimed the title on penalty kicks.

The defense, as expected, has been the story. Laden with three key pieces, as well as a midfielder converted to center back, from the team’s 2015 NCAA title run, the backline has all the experience it needs. It’s showing during this stretch, giving up just four goals in those last 13 games — including the back-to-back 1-0 shutouts Penn State used to advance through last weekend against third-seeded South Carolina and Wake Forest, which defeated Penn State earlier this year.

The opponent, top-seeded Florida State, has taken notice. The Seminoles needed comebacks in both their second round and Sweet 16 matchups, surviving to the Elite Eight thanks to a shootout win over USC last round.

“Penn State is a team that is committed to playing for one another,” Florida State head coach Mark Krikorian said. “…They have strung together an awful lot of impressive results in the last month or two and we know that they are going to be a very good opponent.”

Krikorian and Penn State head coach Erica Dambach know each other well. Dambach served as an assistant in Tallahassee under Krikorian during the Seminoles run to the College Cup in 2005 after both were on the 2004 World Cup staff for the U.S. U-19 women’s national team.

Whether it’s that Florida State team in 2005 or the one in 2012 that was defeated by the Nittany Lions in the College Cup semifinals, not a lot changes. Loaded with internationals and set up for a possession-based style of play, the Seminoles have consistently been one of the nation’s best.

The team is led by Deyna Castellanos, a Venezuelan star who was nominated last year for FIFA World Player of the Year. Listed as a forward, she’ll function more in the No. 10 role — sitting below striker Kristen McFarland and being the main creator in the offense.

The team’s midfield is strung together by a pair of freshmen. Yujie Zhao and Jaelin Howell, who represented China and the United States, respectively, at this year’s U-20 World Cup, work together in tandem in the center of the pitch — with Zhao having the freedom to press forward, while Howell provides defensive cover and starts the play deep in the midfield.

“They love to have the ball. They love to play around their opponent,” Dambach told GoPSUSports. “They’ll make you chase, but so do we. We are as good at it as anyone in the country, so it’s going to be a back and forth game. We’re going to have our chances and it’s going to be about who finishes those chances.”

To knock off the top seeds, the Nittany Lions are focusing on their experience. The starting lineup is still littered with members of the national title winners from three years ago.

For many of those players, like the Sweet 16 game-winning goalscorer Marissa Sheva, the success the past few weeks comes from willing their team forward to continue their college careers.

“[Sheva] is a senior that wants to continue on her senior season,” Dambach said. “That’s what it is all about at this time of the year. Are your veterans just putting you on their back and saying ‘come with me?’ That’s what we’re feeling from so many of these seniors right now.”

If Penn State pulls off the upset in Tallahassee this weekend, it would be the first unseeded team since 2003 to reach the College Cup.