The NC State men’s soccer team dominated the time of possession and took down Longwood 1-0 behind a goal from freshman defender Pablo Pedregosa.
Redshirt senior Vinnie Durand recorded his first shutout of the season with a single save. His efforts combined with an impressive defensive display helped the Wolfpack to victory.
“The guys did a really good job connecting to their lines,” said head coach George Kiefer. “I thought the discipline was good… I thought they were very in tune with making sure that we were good defensively. I thought the first week, we were too opened up.”
From the opening minute, the Wolfpack kept steady pressure on the Lancers, controlling a majority of the time on possession. The Pack had five shots in the first half and finally broke through in the 34th minute.
Pedregosa scored the first goal, bringing the game to 1-0. After a header attempt from junior defender Jamie Smith, the rebound came straight to Pedregosa, who took advantage of the open far side. Senior forward Tyler Gabarra was also credited with an assist.
The NC State defense did a great job of clearing the ball in the first half as Longwood was only able to get one shot on Durand, who made a diving save to his right in the 25th minute. In the first half, NC State led Longwood 11-3 in shots and 6-1 in shots on goal.
“We’ve been forcing that all week, building up to this,” Durand said. “Defense. Defense. Defense. Got to keep the block together and I thought they did a really good job tonight with it.”
The game went scoreless in the second half so NC State held on with the lone goal by Pedregosa. The team ended the game with 18 shots total, eight of them on net, while Longwood had three shots, with just one on net.
“If you look at the first week, even St. John’s, a lot of good possession,” Kiefer said. “But possession without penetration, without movements in behind— we’re interested in playing to win, so I thought tonight you saw more players running behind the back four, slipping guys in, getting into good spots and even if you don’t connect on that, it turns them and you can step your pressure up.”
The Wolfpack takes on William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia on September 10 then the Pack will come back to Raleigh on September 14 to take on Boston College at 7:00 p.m. This will also be their first ACC game of the season.
