The Wolfpack left N.C. State Soccer Stadium over the weekend with possibly their biggest disappointment in an already disappointing season. After the team’s loss to Boston College a game before, the players said they thought it was the best game the team had played so far in the ACC season. But the progress did not show during the match against No. 2 North Carolina last Friday.
On the surface, it seemed State had a recipe for success. The Pack was pumped up to face its archrival North Carolina. The team was playing in front of 1632 people, one of the biggest crowds ever for women’s soccer despite the heavy rain that lasted throughout the entire game. Most of State’s key players have been back long enough that they are feeling “played in,” according to coach Laura Kerrigan. Yet one thing remained to be added into the mix: the potency of the No. 2 Tar Heel offense.
State was back on its heels very early in the game. Most of the first half was played on the Pack’s side of the field. UNC could have gone up earlier than it actually did, missing several opportunities in the box in the first 10 minutes of regulation.
The floodgates eventually broke under Heel’s constant pressure at 17:05 of the first half. The Tar Heels’ junior forward Casey Nogueira, the ACC’s leading scorer, one-touched a ball from Jessica McDonald to make the score 1-0.
Just over 10 minutes later, the score was 4-0 and Nogueira had three goals. State would never recover.
“We talked about in our preparation about how we needed to make sure that we were stopping their shots at the top of the box,” coach Laura Kerrigan said. “In the first half we didn’t stop their shots at the top of the box and Casey Nogueira made us pay for that. Anytime you have a player of that caliber, you can’t let them have shots at the top of the box.”
Nogueria added her fourth goal of the night early in the second half. Soon after, UNC began pulling its starters in favor of backups, even getting as far down the bench as the third string goalkeeper. Only one starter played all 90 minutes.
“We had our chances, but we didn’t end up putting them away,” junior defender Katie Ruiz said. “UNC is a great finishing team and it was their night.”
The Pack now sits at the bottom of the ACC standings after going 0-6 in conference play. After its best start since 1991 at 7-0, State has lost eight of its last nine games. The team has yet to score a goal in ACC play. But despite its recent struggles, the Pack knows it has to move on to the next game.
“We [need to] turn our minds to Wake Forest — start practice Sunday and just start going at it, putting our eyes on a new goal,” senior defender Tami Krzeszewski said. “Tonight is over, and we’ve got one more [opportunity to] win on Thursday.”
