&c; 2009 Student Media
With a crowd of 1,221 in attendance, the women’s soccer team did not disappoint as it opened the regular season with a 3-0 shutout of Old Dominion Friday night, avenging last season’s morale-crushing 1-0 loss to the Monarchs. The win also marked the beginning of coach Steve Springthorpe’s tenure with N.C. State.
Springthorpe said the team was obviously excited about the win in front of a large crowd.
“It’s everything we hoped for, expected,” Springthorpe said. “It’s nothing but positive stuff tonight.”
The Wolfpack would receive its first goal of the game from sophomore forward Paige Dugal at the 16:52 mark, with the ball going over the head of the goal keeper from 20 yards out.
Springthorpe said he didn’t even see the goal coming.
“I’m giving instructions to my left back over here when Paige [Dugal] hits the bomb,” Springthorpe said. “It was a great goal.”
Dugal noted the win as a positive start to the season
“Just to get a win under the belt to start and playing well,” Dugal said. “It just shows how much the coaching staff is impacting and changing us for the better.”
The Pack would get its second goal in the net from junior midfielder Nadia Aboulhosn, who sent the ball whizzing from 25 yards out into the upper right corner. Aboulhosn heard one of her teammates yell “shoot” before she attempted her shot.
“Next thing I know, I saw it go in the goal,” Aboulhosn said. “It was really exciting.”
In the 57th minute, senior midfielder Chantalle Dugas scored the team’s final goal from 30 yards out. She tallied a second half hat trick in the team’s sole exhibition game against VMI Aug. 14.
Though it’s the team’s first game and win of the season, Aboulhosn already noticed a change in the team.
“The attitude this year is so different,” Aboulhosn said. “Everyone is excited to come to practice. When practice is over, people want to stay out later. Everyone wants to work hard for each other.
“The attitude is so positive. That really makes a difference, it makes you enjoy playing, keep wanting to push harder.”
Joe Pereira, who coached Springthorpe when he was a student at Methodist in the 1980’s and also gave him his first coaching job, was behind the bench for the Monarchs. Springthorpe described coaching against his mentor as a great experience.
“We’ve known each other for over 20 years so it was a great honor to coach against him tonight,” Springthorpe said. “He’s a great man; he’s had great teams.
“Tonight, for us, we finished some great shots. It could have gone either way for a while. It is something I will always remember. That will go up on the shelf as something that I will look at and remember.”
At the end of the match, the student and the mentor walked onto the field as the Wolfpack celebrated the victory. As they shook hands, Springthorpe said his former coach had a few words to say about the Pack.
“[He said] ‘Great job – much improved over last year,’ which is a great thing to hear,” Springthorpe said. “People recognized that the team is moving forward a little bit.”