The N.C . State men’s soccer team went into Saturday’s game with Richmond confident of victory but left the Dail Soccer Stadium with a disappointing draw. The Wolfpack was poised to utilize their momentum to roll past a winless Richmond squad, but a weak first half and a soft goal resulted in the 1-1 draw.
The Pack entered the game with national recognition after beating highly ranked SMU last weekend and losing 1-0 to similarly ranked UC Santa Barbara. Richmond, on the other hand, entered after a crushing 10-1 loss to Coastal Carolina.
For the first 30 minutes, State maintained possession of the ball consistently in Richmond territory, forcing Richmond back on their heels. Richmond was playing defensively, rarely having the ball with multiple players in State territory, while State’s defense was pushed up to midfield.
With 13 minutes left in the first half, Richmond’s defender Colby Abrahamoff cleared the ball out of their half to Luis Perez between the midfield line and the 18-yard line box. From there, Perez shot the ball on a prayer and it landed right in State’s goalkeeper Fabian Otte’s hands. Otte mishandled the ball just feet in front of the net and the ball went past him into the back of the net. Otte crumpled to the ground after the goal, appearing to have injured his hand. However, he stayed in for the rest of the game, grimacing in pain whenever his right hand came in contact with the ball.
Coach Kelly Findley spoke about the effect Richmond’s goal had on the Wolfpack .
“As a group I think everyone was frustrated with each other and themselves,” Findley said. “I think we weren’t playing to our standard and your mentality is going to breakdown when you’re not playing to a high standard.”
With frustration evident, the physicality of the game quickly increased and neither team could hold control of the game.
Entering the second half, the referees made their presence known, making many calls against State in Spider territory as the Pack began fighting to regain control of the game.
With 26 minutes remaining in the second half, Monbo Bokar took a long pass from defenseman Gbenga Makinde into the box and gave a soft pass to Ollie Kelly, who was 1-on-1 with the Richmond goalkeeper. Kelly drilled the ball into the back of the net for his second goal of the season.
The rest of regulation and overtime was filled with opportunities for State, who failed to find the back of the net again as the Richmond goalkeeper, Thomas Hand, made several outstanding saves. In overtime, Richmond seemed to be playing for the draw as when they got the ball they maintained possession but did not attempt to create many offensive opportunities, taking no shots in both overtime periods.
Monbo Bokar spoke of how the slow start for State affected the game.
“We performed slow, we came out slow in the first 45 [minutes], as the game went on in the second half we did better,” Bokar said. “If we had come out like we did in the second half in the first it would’ve ended better.”
After the game, Findley had State running sprints on the field, disappointed by their level of play and the result of the game.
Simon Cox explained why Findley had the team running.
“I don’t think it was punishment,” Cox said. “It was him letting us know we’re better than that, making sure it gets in our head that we’re better than that.”
State needs to refocus and prepare for a game against the No. 2-ranked Maryland Terrapins. Cox spoke about the mindset of the team headed into the high profile matchup.
“I think we know have to work hard, we proved we can work hard in the second half,” Cox said. “So we just have to take that into the next game and find that win.”
