The NC State men’s soccer team shut out the Pittsburgh Panthers 3-0 Saturday night at Dail Soccer Stadium in Raleigh for its first conference win of the season.

The win was No. 500 in program history, making State the 31st NCAA Division I school to reach the milestone. The game was also special because it was the Kay Yow Pink Game as well as senior night for the Wolfpack. With the win, State improves to 4-9-0 (1-5-0 ACC) while the Panthers fall to 2-10-2 (0-5-1 ACC).

“I think goals change games,” head coach Kelly Findley said. “We scored early and often, which is important. But really, I was most pleased with our first shutout of the season. That was something we needed to get better at. I thought we were really solid for a full 90 minutes tonight, which is nice.”

The Pack opened up the scoring in the 8th minute with a goal from sophomore Julius Duchscherer. A soft pass from junior Maximilian Luftl through the top of the box found the foot of Duchscherer, who calmly shot it past Panther goalie Mikal Outcalt and into the back of the net. Luftl was credited with his first assist of the season.

“Getting an early first goal always helps in the game and it gives us a good feeling,” Duchscherer said. “We were stronger after that goal so that’s a good thing.”

Duchscherer struck again in the 17th minute, giving the Wolfpack a 2-0 lead. Senior Travis Wannemuehler was credited with his fourth assist of the season. Duchscherer curled a shot from outside of the box that slipped past a diving Outcalt and into the bottom-left corner of the goal.

The second goal of the game for Duchscherer was his team-leading seventh of the season. Seven goals is a new career-high for Duchscherer who is in his second year with team. The goal also moved him up to fifth on the ACC leaderboard for goals this season.

“If I have an opportunity to score, I always want to score,” Duchscherer said.

State found a third goal in the 30th minute on an own goal by a Pitt a defender. Wannemuehler ripped a shot from the top of the box that went wide, but it was deflected by a sliding Panther center-half into the back of the net.

The score remained 3-0 heading into halftime. The three-goal lead was the largest of the year for the Wolfpack. State dominated the half totaling 12 shots compared to Pittsburgh’s two. The Pack also tallied eight corner kicks while the Panthers failed to kick any.

The Wolfpack continued its dominance in the second half of the game, tallying 12 more shots while Pitt was only able to add three. State also continued to put pressure on Pitt with nine more corner kicks, bringing the game total to 17. Despite all of the second half pressure, the Pack was not able to add any more goals to the board, as the game ended 3-0.

State has struggled to get positive results this year, but the team played well to capture the win against the Panthers. With just two weeks left in the regular season and only three weeks until the ACC tournament, State is looking to try and build on this game according to Findley.

“We are going to need to get some results in that,” Findley said about the ACC tournament. “We are happy to get some points and now we just have to recover and get better.”

The Wolfpack will travel to UNC-Wilmington Wednesday for its next game, and will be back home again next weekend when it hosts Louisville Oct. 23.