A costly red card brought No. 20 NC State men’s soccer down to 10 men early, and the team eventually fell to Duke 6-2 on Friday night at Koskinen Stadium in Durham.
The Wolfpack (7-3-3, 1-2-3 ACC) struggled to find its footing early on in the match on a rough pitch and missing junior midfielder Yanni Hachem, who was suffering from illness. The Blue Devils (6-6-2, 1-4-1 ACC) capitalized on a penalty kick and sending off in the 24th minute, which threw open the floodgates as Duke scored five more times in the night, with the Wolfpack adding two goals of its own.
“Things like this happen in the game of soccer,” NC State head coachKelly Findley said post-match. “The mark of a good team is how they respond to adversity. I know we will respond well on Monday night against App State.”
The match was up in the air from the opening whistle, and both teams struggled to gain an advantage early on and received no mercy from the conditions of the pitch. Neither team could find a rhythm and completed passes were hard to come by.
Everything changed in the 24th minute after Duke sophomore forward Jeremy Ebobisse was played into space by a pass that split the defense. His one-on-one chance was broken up by senior Reed Norton with a tackle from behind, which the referee deemed was a denial of a goal-scoring opportunity. This was the most crucial moment of the match, and the Wolfpack went down to 10 men as the ball sat perched on the penalty spot.
Senior midfielder Zach Mathers made no mistake and drilled the ball into the back of the net, the first of many for the Blue Devils on an eight-goal night.
Just two minutes later, graduate student defender Tyler Hilliard put Duke 2-0 up after a near post header from a corner. This is the second straight game that the Pack has conceded from a set-piece, something the team must improve on with the NCAA Tournament looming around the bend.
Mathers netted his second of the night after hitting a rocket from 25 yards out, an effort that hit senior goalkeeper Alex McCauley in the hands, yet this wasn’t enough to keep the ball from looping over him into the back of the net.
Although McCauley let in six goals, he also made seven saves, which tied his season record for saves in a game and helped the Wolfpack avoid further humiliation.
The Pack couldn’t get to halftime soon enough, and when it finally came, the side was able to regroup. Down by three, NC State went for it offensively and pushed numbers forward, but without the stern presence of Norton at the back, the Wolfpack defense couldn’t handle Duke’s counter attack, and they netted their fourth of the game through senior midfielder Ryan Thomson, the first goal of his collegiate career.
The Wolfpack had a slight lifeline in the 51st minute when a Duke handball led to freshman midfielder Julius Duchscherer’s third goal of the season, coolly dispatching from the penalty spot.
Duke instantly responded in the 52nd minute after a brilliant McCauley save from a point blank shot, but his heroics weren’t enough to keep Mathers’ hat trick at bay, as he hammered home the rebound from the left side.
NC State still retained its composure and fighting spirit, and freshman forward Clayton Sparks, who came on as a substitute earlier in the second half, slotted past the Duke goalkeeper to mark his first ever goal for the Pack, a positive sign for the future of the Pack’s striking force.
With the match completely out of reach, Findley pulled his starters and cleared his bench, giving valuable minutes to his reserves while resting players who have played hundreds of minutes during the past few weeks.
Duke netted once more before full time, sophomore forward Macario Hing-Glover putting the nail in the coffin with a tap in on a Blue Devil counter attack to make the score 6-2.
The win provided relief to a Blue Devil team that has struggled in ACC play this season, and with it comes its first conference play victory against an in-form NC State team.
The Pack can get back on track tonight when it faces App State at Dail Soccer Stadium.
