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Sports

Laurel's McCarty Aims For National Soccer Title

Local youth is now a standout with Division I Florida State, which is two wins away from NCAA crown.

cq - Tiffany McCarty for dec 1

Tiffany McCarty was about 8 years old when she began playing youth soccer with the Laurel Wildcats.

She has been on U.S. national teams and hopes to play at the pro level once her college career is over at Florida State of the Atlantic Coast Conference.

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But for now McCarty, who grew up in and played at St. John's College High in Washington, is focused on any player's dream: a national title.

"I would like to still play soccer after college. I am focused on the college season right now," she told Patch earlier this week. "What (the future) holds in store for me, I don't know yet."

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The immediate future comes Friday [Dec. 2] when Florida State meets Stanford at 5 p.m. in the NCAA national semifinals in Kennesaw, GA. "Obviously, Stanford is a good team and they will punish you if you are not ready," McCarty said. "But our defense has been awesome the past 10 or 12 games."

The winner will play Sunday for the Division I title against the survivor of the other semfinal on Friday against Wake Forest and Duke.

"The past three years we have been trying to get back to the Final Four," the redshirt junior striker said after a trip in 2007 to the Women's College Cup. "We want to be successful and go back to the national title game."

What would it mean to win a national title?

"I think it is something special. Not a lot of players can say that," said McCarty, the ACC freshman of the year in 2008 when she had 11 goals and six assists.

McCarty, who was also the ACC player of the year in 2009, had the game-winning goal against ACC rival Virginia in late November as the Seminoles earned a spot in the Final Four.

"It was one of those games that you know each other so well," she said. "That was the third time playing them. We knew each other's game plans."

She has started all 25 games for Florida [18-6-1] and leads the team with 18 goals and also has six assists. The Seminoles were just 5-5 in the ACC this year [including a 3-0 loss at home to Maryland in October] but have won 10 in a row since falling to the Terps. Florida State has allowed just five goals in the last 10 games.

McCarty's father, Vinson, plans to attend the game on Friday in Georgia. Her brother, Ian, played college soccer at Hofstra in New York.

McCarty missed last season due to injury.

"For the most part I feel fine," she said. "Obviously there is fatigue throughout the season. I feel good. When I came into the pre-season it was the fittest I have ever been."

McCarty has one more season of eligiblity after this year. So is she a leader now with Florida State? "When you are older it is natural for younger players to look up to you," she said. "People watch what you do and not what you say."

They will be watching this weekend.

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