The 5-seed NC State women’s soccer team beat the 4-seed Louisville 2-1 in overtime to advance to the ACC Championship semifinal at WakeMed Soccer Park on Nov. 8.
It took 97 minutes of play to separate the Wolfpack (10-5-4, 5-2-4 ACC) and the Cardinals (12-4-2, 5-4-2 ACC) but eventually the Wolfpack came out on top thanks to a counter-attack golden goal from senior forward Tziarra King.
Following a Cardinals corner kick, the Pack launched a counter attack and King founder herself in a one-on-one foot race towards the Cardinal’s goal. King won out with both speed and strength, holding off her defender and firing it home past the onrushing Louisville keeper.
While the first half of the match was a hard-fought defensive affair that saw both the Wolfpack and Cardinals record just one shot, neither on target, the second saw the Pack start to pour on the pressure from the start.
Both of the first half shots came within inches of scoring, however, as senior defender Kia Rankin’s goal-line heroics denied the Cardinals and senior midfielder Ricci Walkling’s show following a rehearsed corner routine went just wide of the near post.
The Pack finally found the back of the net in the 54th minute as Rankin earned the Wolfpack a corner. Redshirt sophomore defender Lulu Guttenberger crossed the corner in and it hit off the back of Louisville’s Niamh Nelson’s head, off the bar and into the back of the net.
Walkling nearly grabbed an insurance goal as she was found wide open on the far side of the box following a Wolfpack counter attack. The senior put the shot low and it beat the keeper but Louisville’s Sarah Hernandez got back and made a brilliant goal-line clearance to keeper her side in the match.
Hernandez’s clearance would prove vital just minutes later as Brooklyn Rivers converted a penalty for Louisville in the 80th minute to tie it up at 1-1. Junior goalkeeper Jessica Berlin guessed correctly but the penalty was just out of her reach.
The Pack will be back in action in the ACC Championship semifinal as it will take on the winner of UNC-Chapel Hill and Notre Dame at WakeMed Soccer Park on Friday, Nov. 8.
