NC State women’s soccer defeated Wake Forest 2-1 at Dail Soccer Stadium Sunday night.

After going down a goal early, the Pack put away two unanswered second-half goals which proved to be the deciding factor in the match. The Wolfpack improved to 8-3-0 (2-1-0) and the Demon Deacons fell to 8-3-0 (0-3-0).

“[This win] proves that we’re not a fluke,” head coach Tim Santoro said. “The Carolina game wasn’t an aberration, and we’re a good team.”

Santoro employed a more offensive strategy to begin the match. Freshman midfielder Paige Griffiths, who usually plays more of a holding midfield position, was pushed forward to play as a more offensive midfielder.

The Pack fell into an early hole in the 10th minute when NC State sophomore defender Ella Bonner and Wake Forest junior forward Claudia Day collided, causing Day to fall inside the Wolfpack box. The referee deemed the fall a foul and awarded Wake Forest a penalty kick. Wake midfielder Sarah Teegarden converted the penalty to put the Demon Deacons ahead 1-0.

Bonner exited the match in the 21st minute when she took a hard hit to the head from Wake Forest forward Caroline Wootten. Bonner went to the ground clutching her head with her hands and was escorted off the field by the trainer. Wootten was shown a yellow card for the foul. Bonner returned to thunderous applause in the 38th minute and played the remainder of the match.

The score remained 1-0 at the end of the first half, despite the Wolfpack outshooting the Demon Deacons 6-1. Freshman forward Kia Rankin and freshman forward Tziarra King were kept in check by Wake’s defense, as they combined for just one shot before halftime.

NC State kept relentless pressure on the Wake Forest defensive end of the field throughout the second half. Wake Forest attempted to curb the Wolfpack attack by stuffing its own box with eight to nine players whenever State attackers moved forward.

The Wolfpack forced its way onto the scoreboard in the 65th minute in spectacular fashion. Freshman Paige Griffiths took possession of the ball about 40 yards from goal. After taking two to three touches, Griffiths ripped a high-flying shot that soared over Wake Forest goalkeeper Lindsay Preston’s outstretched hands and into the upper right 90 corner of the net. The goal evened the score at 1-1 and was Griffith’s first of the season.

“I think I stole it,” Griffiths said. “I decided to take it for myself and I saw an open goal, so I shot it and it went in.”

Seconds later, the Wolfpack found itself with the lead. While King was making a run into the box, she was shoved to the side, giving NC State a penalty kick in the 66th minute. King took the penalty kick herself and calmly placed it into the right corner of the net, making the score 2-1 in favor of the Pack.

Tensions were high for both teams for the entirety of the match. Each side was issued two yellow cards and combined for 29 fouls.

The score held as time expired, giving the Pack its second conference win of the season. It is also NC State’s eighth win this year, something the program hasn’t achieved since 2011.

“This group, they can sense that they can do some things that this program hasn’t done before,” Santoro said.

NC State will travel to Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts to take on Boston College on Sunday at 1 p.m.