In a hard-fought match that saw the Wolfpack almost put away the game multiple times, the No. 16 NC State women’s soccer team drew East Carolina 1-1 Thursday night at Dail Soccer Stadium.
The Wolfpack (2-0-1) saw several potential game winners nearly connect late in the game, but the Pirates (1-0-2) were able to prevent a decisive goal.
“I thought we played really well,” head coach Tim Santoro said. “I’m pleased with tonight other than some of the goals we left on the board.”
After a bit of a struggle that included a few giveaways to start the game, the Wolfpack took the lead in the 15th minute. Sophomore forward Kia Rankin received a rightside cross from junior fullback Krissi Schuster, lobbing it over ECU goalkeeper Melanie Stiles’ reach to make it 1-0 Wolfpack and connect on her first goal of the year.
Schuster was credited with the assist, her first of the season.
The Pirates evened the match in the 35th minute thanks to a corner from Morgan Dewey. The corner bounced around in the box and was headed home by Courtney Cash, tying the game 1-1 late in the first half.
NC State led in shots 12-5 at the end of the first half, but ECU’s counter attack led to more quality shots by the Pirates despite the disparity.
One of the driving forces in the counterattack for ECU was the left-sided midfielder Cash, who battled it out with NC State fullback Schuster. Both players created chances for their respective sides all game, with Schuster assisting NC State’s only goal and Cash scoring ECU’s only goal.
“[Schuster] is such a good attacking outside back,” Santoro said. “I think that put a lot of defensive responsibility on Cash and pinned her back a little bit.”
The Wolfpack took more of an offensive approach, holding possession for most of the second half and getting off 29 shots to the Pirates’ 12. The Wolfpack was also granted five corners throughout the match and took an unsuccessful free kick right outside the ECU box.
Despite several excellent goal-scoring opportunities for NC State, including a last-second near miss by junior Tziarra King, the Wolfpack was unable to put a goal on the board in regulation as the match headed to extra time.
NC State garnered several other chances to put the game away but failed to do so despite six extra time shots and 30 shots overall. The match ended in a 1-1 tie for the Pack, a tough outcome for a Wolfpack team that held a majority of the possession and controlled the flow of the match.
Despite the result, senior goalkeeper Sydney Wootten was encouraged by the performance.
“I think that it was our best game so far,” Wootten said. “Looking at the stats, it doesn’t reflect the score of the game but we played our hearts out and we improved and it’s also kind of nice to have a game like this in the beginning of the season because we can easily grow from this.”
The Wolfpack will take on No. 10 South Carolina Sunday at 1 p.m. at Dail Soccer Stadium in the first ranked matchup for both teams.
