page_title: Natalia Kuikka
section_title: Florida State University
hierarchical_section_title: Natalia Kuikka / College career / Florida State University
caption_attribution_description: English: Natalia Kuikka celebrating after winning the 2018 NCAA National Championships as captain of Florida State University.
context_page_description: Natalia Kuikka is a Finnish football midfielder who plays for Kopparbergs/Goteborg FC in the Damallsvenskan in Sweden and the Finland National Team.
context_section_description: Kuikka was recruited by Mark Krikorian (soccer) to join his Florida State University squad for the 2015 season. In her freshman year, she played in a total of 19 games, all as a midfielder, tallying 6 goals and 5 assists. She scored the first goal of her career versus New Mexico State University on 21 August 2015. In the ACC tournament, her goal and two assists earned her the first of her ACC Tournament MVP Awards.
  Moving to the central defender role beginning her sophomore season, Kuikka helped solidify a defense that allowed a paltry 0.39 GAA. For the second year in a row, she won the ACC Tournament MVP award for her solid defensive play and two shootout penalty kick conversions.
  After being selected as a team captain, success as the director of the defensive line continued in her junior year. The Seminoles had eight clean sheets including two in the NCAA Tournament.
  As a senior and team captain, Kuikka anchored the Seminoles defense and led the team to a school-record 16 shutouts, including four in the NCAA Tournament. The final two being in the College Cup versus defending champion Stanford and in the final versus UNC to claim the NCAA Championship. Her efforts garnered her the 2018-9 Honda Sport Award for the top female athlete in NCAA Division I soccer.
  Kuikka graduated at the end of Fall Semester 2018 with a bachelor's degree in Criminology.
caption: Kuikka celebrating after helping Florida State win the 2018 NCAA National Championship
exif: {"Image ImageWidth": "4032", "Image ImageLength": "2268", "Image Make": "samsung", "Image Model": "SM-G950U", "Image Orientation": "Rotated 90 CW", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "G950USQU5CRK1", "Image DateTime": "2018:12:02 15:37:34", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "238", "GPS GPSVersionID": "[2, 2, 0, 0]", "GPS GPSLatitudeRef": "N", "GPS GPSLatitude": "[35, 47, 36763/1000]", "GPS GPSLongitudeRef": "W", "GPS GPSLongitude": "[78, 45, 247271/5000]", "GPS GPSAltitudeRef": "0", "GPS GPSAltitude": "0", "GPS GPSTimeStamp": "[20, 35, 16]", "GPS GPSDate": "2018:12:02", "Image GPSInfo": "5964", "Thumbnail ImageWidth": "496", "Thumbnail ImageLength": "280", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail Orientation": "Rotated 90 CW", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "6300", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "14577", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/236", "EXIF FNumber": "17/10", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "50", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2018:12:02 15:37:34", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2018:12:02 15:37:34", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "3941/500", "EXIF ApertureValue": "153/100", "EXIF BrightnessValue": "517/100", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "153/100", "EXIF MeteringMode": "CenterWeightedAverage", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire", "EXIF FocalLength": "17/4", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "4032", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2268", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "5934", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "26", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF ImageUniqueID": "F12QSJA00SM F12QSKB01SB"}