CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Closing out the season with a tight loss, NC State women’s soccer fought but ultimately fell to UNC-Chapel Hill in a contested 1-0 finish.

The Wolfpack (5-9-4, 4-4-2 ACC) entered the matchup with its postseason hopes already dashed. Its loss to No. 10 Duke on Oct. 26 proved costly in the standings, eliminating NC State from contention. But as it came to face the reigning national champion Tar Heels (12-6, 6-4 ACC), it looked to close the regular season by giving the Red Terrors one more surprise.

But like its postseason campaign, the Pack fell just short. The Heels jumped ahead, netting a 30th-minute goal to take command of the game. UNC forward Bella Devey struck on the break, beating the Pack down the pitch and firing it into the nylon.

“[I’m] a little bit disappointed,” said head coach Gary Higgins. “I thought UNC was there for the taking tonight. They were obviously a very talented team. They’ve got really good athletes. [I] was disappointed in the goal that they scored — [the goal] was a very direct play.”

The Pack spent much of the game on its back foot, unable to control the ball for any stretch of time. As the final seconds of its season were ticking down, NC State made a final push, with multiple game-tying shots coming up just wide. Most notably, a free kick fired by sophomore forward Antonella Mazziotto struck the top right post, inches from evening the score. But the clock wound down second by second, and with the final whistle, the season came to a close.

Despite missing the tournament, it is hard to say the Pack’s season was a failure. To see the whole frame of the season, you have to go all the way back to the start. Opening with a record of 0-5-2, the Pack could not get anything right. Losses to James Madison, Michigan State, Davidson, Western Carolina and Utah raised questions of whether or not the Pack would pick up a single win over the course of the season. After all, the ACC has been far and away the top soccer conference — with half of the top 10 being composed of ACC teams — and the Pack couldn’t even beat its weakest opponents.

Just before conference play came around, the Pack finally found its footing. NC State trounced Campbell 4-0 and took then-No. 6 Notre Dame to the wire, just losing on an 86th-minute heartbreaker. But it was building something. And that showed in the final nine games of the season, playing itself into ACC contention. In the latter half of the season, the Pack was on the inside of the six-team field looking out. The revival reached its peak when NC State beat then-No. 12 Wake Forest 2-1, its first ranked win since 2021.

“I’ve been involved in this game for 30 years and this is actually my first losing season ever,” Higgins said. “But it’s one of my favorite seasons, just because of how they never gave up and they kept on going, and we’ll remember that and we’ll build from this.”

With late losses to then No. 20 Louisville and Duke, the Pack relinquished its spot in the dance. And with its non-conference struggles, a shot at the NCAA tournament was out of the picture. Even without a postseason berth, the Pack showed its future is bright.

“We’ll start to prepare tomorrow [for next season], and we need to get some players in. We’ve got some players that I think will help us, but we need to build on this. We need to use this as fuel.”