The 2016 season for the NC State women’s soccer team was one for the record books, as the Wolfpack went on a Cinderella run all the way to the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA Tournament in its first appearance in the big dance since 1996.
Last year’s team knocked any pre-season expectations out of the park, picking up unprecedented wins over top-10 opponents North Carolina during the regular season and Minnesota in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament. Even more impressively, State found this success with an incredibly young roster that featured six freshmen playing significant minutes.
Building on its success from last season, the expectations are much higher for this year’s squad. With only one major departure in graduate Gladys Loyas, and every single player that scored a goal last season returning, this is an experienced Pack team that has the potential to be a formidable force in a loaded ACC this year.
Leading the charge for the Pack will be sophomores Tziarra King and Kia Rankin, who were the top scorers on the team last season as freshmen. King had a team-best eight goals, with Rankin falling just behind with five. Another returning sophomore that made a big impact as a freshman last season is Ricarda Walkling, who tallied a squad-leading six assists while putting in three goals of her own.
Perhaps the most important returning piece for the Pack is one that didn’t play much of a role in last year’s success. Redshirt senior Jackie Stengel, who was the captain and leading scorer of the 2015 team, missed the majority of 2016 with injury. She started out hot last year, scoring five goals in just eight games, but did not play for the remainder of the season.
With Stengel back leading the attack, alongside the breakout star in King, the Pack offense should have no trouble putting goals into the back of the net. On the defensive side of things, junior goalie Sydney Wooten will resume her place in the goal after a stellar 2016 campaign. The netminder played in all 22 games, allowing just 24 goals and having a save percentage of .758.
While State will be fielding a good team this season, playing an ACC schedule is still a daunting task. The ACC has six of the preseason top-25 ranked teams in the nation, and the Wolfpack will have to play five of them once conference play comes around.
The early-season nonconference slate should fare much easier for the Wolfpack, as State does not play a ranked team and will host five of its eight non-ACC matches. The Pack will start the year on a road trip to Oregon, where it will take on Oregon and Portland, before returning home to host Coastal Carolina and Princeton. A quick trip to Elon and then three more home games against East Carolina, Davidson and Western Carolina will wrap up nonconference play.
The Wolfpack starts its ACC slate with one of its toughest games of the year, hosting preseason No. 11 Virginia for the conference opener. The next conference match may be the easiest for State as Boston College comes to Raleigh. However, following the BC game, the Pack enters a grueling stretch of road games.
State will play four road games in a row over the course of two weeks, starting against ranked opponents in No. 18 Notre Dame and No. 15 Florida State. The following week the Pack will travel to No. 12 Duke and wrap up the road trip in Pittsburgh to face the Panthers. If the Wolfpack is to be a force in the ACC this season, it will be this four-game stretch that determines how legitimate of a contender the Pack is.
The Wolfpack will get one game of relief as it hosts Syracuse, before again facing a ranked opponent in No. 13 Clemson, this time at home. State does wrap up the season with two much easier games, a trip to Virginia Tech and a home match against Louisville.
Expectations are as high as they have ever been for women’s soccer at NC State, and with a team loaded with returning playmakers it should be one of the better seasons in the program’s history. However, consistently winning soccer games in the ACC is an incredible ask for this team.
State isn’t regarded as a top-level ACC squad just yet, but has the talent and experience to give the rest of the league a run for its money. While the Wolfpack probably isn’t a legitimate contender to win the conference, it should be able to push itself into a second-straight NCAA Tournament bid.
