No. 14 NC State men’s soccer continued its strong start to the season with a convincing performance against Wofford.

Wofford (0-1) began the game kicking the ball long and forced NC State (2-0) to build up from the back or kick it long. The Terriers came hot out the gate, but could only keep the Pack leashed for so long.

State opened the scoring in the 19th minute with a long throw that fell to junior midfielder Tyler Caton, who put it into the net for his first career goal.

“Couldn’t really believe it, to be fair, when the balls popped up,” Caton said. “I was so excited. I almost mishit it, because I was too excited…That’s my first college goal, so I didn’t really know what to do when I scored. Sort of just started running around everywhere. But yeah, it was great.”

The Pack never looked back, scoring five before half, including a first-half hat trick from junior forward Donavan Phillip, marking NC State’s first hat trick since 2022, coincidentally also against Wofford. Three of the five first-half goals were from or following set pieces – a short corner, a long throw-in and a deep corner to the back post.

“That’s the part of the game we can control, so we really decided we were going to put a lot of time into it,” Phillip said. “We looked at some stats, actually just before this game, on how much teams score on set pieces and [how often they’re] winning games. So we know we can manage that.”

The second half saw the Wolfpack make nine changes from the group that started the game and a noticeable position change as graduate Thomas Lamaille moved from the midfield to centerback.

“[Lamaille] just has great versatility, so we’re trying to figure out where he fits best,” said head coach Marc Hubbard. “[It’s] still a work in progress.”

The Wolfpack put two shots on goal in the second half but ultimately only found the back of the net on a lower-driven cross from junior forward Austin Bush that was redirected by a Wofford player in an own goal.

Senior goalkeeper Logan Erb, who was taken out in the second half, didn’t face a single shot on goal. He claimed a high cross in the 21st minute and dove on two dangerous Wofford through balls in the 50th and 51st minutes. Erb was rarely involved in the Packs’ build-up play happening close to midfield with Wofford pinned back.

Through 180 minutes, the Pack has yet to allow a goal, starting the season with two clean sheets.

“If you can do it in moments like this, it primes you for those bigger moments later in the year,” Hubbard said. “Very happy about how we’ve been able to do that.”

That stat will next be put to the test as it takes on FIU on Friday, Aug. 29 at 6 p.m.