The NC State men’s soccer team took down Notre Dame on Friday night by a score of 2-0 behind goals from sophomore forward Kuda Muskwe and sophomore defenseman Pepe Garcia.
The Wolfpack (6-2-1, 3-1-0 ACC) thoroughly dominated the Fighting Irish (5-4-1, 0-4-0 ACC) throughout the match, outshooting the visitors 13-8 and racking up six corners compared to the Irish’s four.
“I mean, to get a shutout was really good,” men’s soccer head coach George Kiefer said. “Some good performance out of Vinnie [Durand] where I thought he made a couple of key saves for us and he did that the game before where he’s starting to get into a good groove. But to score two and feel like you could have got the third, I thought a very solid performance out of the guys.”
The Wolfpack dominated the early stages of the game but it took until the 35th minute for the Pack to find a breakthrough. Senior forward Tyler Gabarra made a brilliant driving run at the Fighting Irish defense and then slipped Muskwe in behind. Muskwe did well to hold off a defender before blasting a shot into the back of the net.
“There’s been a few times I’ve picked the ball up in that area and I’ve not taken the defender on,” Muskwe said. “This time I just thought, ‘I’m just gonna run at him’. He had the most gangliest legs, his legs were so long. And I just thought you know what I’m just gonna run at him. And just, I just don’t know what happened, I just hit the target.”
Despite the Wolfpack only leading 1-0 at the half, it dominated play throughout the first half. The Pack outshot the Irish 5-2 and racked up six corners compared to its opponent’s zero. What the Irish lacked in quantity of chance, however, they made up for in quality with the visitors nearly grabbing an early lead.
A brilliant cross into the box found Notre Dame’s Felicien Dumas in the box and the defender connected with it brilliantly with a diving header. The shot looked like it was surely headed right for the back of the net but redshirt senior Vinnie Durand made a brilliant save to keep the game at 0-0.
“Well, I mean, he was wide open,” Durand said. “So in that situation, all you have to do is just get set and react, trust your reactions. And I think I did pretty well on it.”
It took just eight minutes for the Pack to add to its first-half lead with Garcia picking up a loose ball at the edge of the box. Garcia launched a brilliant curling effort towards the bottom corner of the net. The keeper managed to get a hand to it but the shot was just too strong for him to keep out and the ball found the back of the net.
“It was a big piece to it. I think you knew they were going to come at us,” Kiefer said. “You know, I did think the second goal would break them because to be fair to Notre Dame, they had a tough week. They had a midweek game, they had a Friday game moved to Saturday, They flew here. I thought the guys pushed well, to get that.”
The hosts continued to pour on the pressure as the game went on but despite good scoring chances from players like junior defender David Norris, junior midfielder David Loera and others the Pack couldn’t get the insurance goal it was looking for.
The Wolfpack also saw the return of one of its stars from last season in the win against Notre Dame with junior midfielder Brad Sweeney making his first appearance of the year. Last season Sweeney started every game, racking up five goals and two assists. Sweeney was also a crucial cog in the defensive machine last season with the midfielder holding it down at the base of midfield.
“I thought he changed the game for us,” Kiefer said. “I thought he was really good, just tough, organizing the group and you know the little things. He’s played every minute for two years, so he’s clearly going to help. But even more importantly, I’m excited that we’ll have a rotation in there. Because with the games coming fast and heavy in October, to have that rotation is going to be really good for their legs.”
The men’s soccer team will be back in action on Tuesday as it hosts ETSU at 7 p.m. at Dail Soccer Field. Following ETSU the Wolfpack will have its toughest test of the year as Wake Forest heads to Raleigh on Oct. 10.
Sophomore defender Pepe Garcia dribbles the ball against Notre Dame player during the NC State men’s soccer game against Notre Dame on Friday, Oct. 4, 2019 at Dail Soccer Stadium. NC State beat Notre Dame 2-0.
