After a scoreless regulation period and two 10 minute sudden death overtimes, the No. 15 men’s soccer team took down the No. 2 North Carolina Tar Heels, 4-1, on penalty kicks to advance to the semifinals of the ACC Tournament.
Though he had nothing but praise for the Tar Heels, State coach George Tarantini said it was a great win for his team.
“The Tar Heels are a first class team,” Tarantini said. “It was a great privilege to play in this tournament. I want to say in the very difficult circumstances, both teams played fair. N.C. State played with heart.”
Redshirt freshman defender Chandler Knox said he was on an emotional high after the game.
“Both my parents went to Carolina so that’s always a game that gets me really excited,” Knox said. “They’re an excellent team. Coming into this we were prepared, we were excited. It’s a huge win for us going into the post season. We are really excited about it.”
State last beat Carolina 3-1 in Chapel Hill Sept. 6, 2006. Carolina has won its last three matches.
State’s day started with the ACC announcing that the game time would be move from an 8 p.m. to a 5:30 p.m. start because the remnants of Hurricane Ira continued to soak the triangle. Once the Tobacco Road rivals took the field, weather conditions were in the mid 50’s with rain throughout the match.
Senior Goalie Christopher Widman said the conditions didn’t faze him.
“Its fun playing in the rain and in the wind,” Widman said. “You’re going to play in it anyway; you might as well like it.”
State had a number of chances to score, but nothing materialized. After two overtime periods, the game came down to penalty kicks. Junior Tyler Lassiter was up first for the Pack, followed by senior Korede Aiyegbusi, who put the Pack up 2-1. But a miss by UNC’s Kirk Urso gave State the opportunity to finish off Carolina. The coaching staff made the unusual decision to have Widman take the third kick, which was successful. Sanchez closed it out to put the Wolfpack past the Tar Heels.
Under NCAA rules, which were revised in 2003, because the game remained scoreless after the second sudden victory over time, the game is recorded as a scoreless tie.
One of the heroes for the team was Widman, who had a number of key saves, especially during the shootout. Tarantini said Widman is a first class individual.
“I said a couple of weeks ago – we have one of the premiere goalkeepers in the country.” Tarantini said.
Widman, one of the few Pack players who was part of the team the last time State beat Carolina, said this win was unbelievable.
“It’s exciting for it to come down to PKs,” Widman said. “Carolina is a really great team. We’ve played some tough games with them. We’ve come out on the wrong end a few times recently, but It’s great to finally win.”
No. 7-seeded State will return to WakeMed Soccer Park for its semifinals match Friday at 8 p.m. against No. 3 Boston College. The Pack defeated the Eagles in double overtime, 2-1, one of its two ACC wins of the regular season.
