On a wet night at Dail Soccer Stadium, the NC State men’s soccer team drew Syracuse by a score of 1-1 after overtime.
Both the Wolfpack (8-4-3, 2-3-2 ACC) and the Orange (7-4-3, 1-3-2 ACC) struggled to keep their footing on the wet turf, as a number of player slips created opportunities for both sides.
Despite a good start by the Wolfpack, who almost scored at the other end, the Orange opened the scoring from a corner kick. Sondre Norheim beat the Wolfpack defender in the air to put the Orange up early.
Syracuse nearly doubled its advantage just 10 minutes later, as a player let a shot loose from the edge of the 6-yard box, but sophomore keeper Leon Krapf was able to make himself big and save the close-range effort. Syracuse came close to finding its second goal but was denied by the post late in the first half.
“You could do everything right defensively and they still get a chance,” head coach George Kiefer said. “I thought [Krapf] made two big saves in the first half to keep it at one, so to get to halftime at 1-0 instead of 2-0 made a huge difference for us.”
After the Syracuse goal, the Wolfpack continued to look for a goal of its own but struggled to find it. The team created plenty of opportunities both from set pieces and open play, but could not get the shot away when the opportunity arose.
Krapf continued to perform well making six saves on the night to keep the Wolfpack in the game, which would prove important in the second half.
The Wolfpack nearly got its equalizer 10 minutes into the second half. Junior forward Tyler Gabarra crossed in a free kick to sophomore forward Manny Perez whose point-blank shot was blocked by Syracuse keeper Hendrik Hilpert. The rebound fell to sophomore defender David Norris whose shot was also saved by Hilpert.
The Wolfpack finally found its first goal when it was given a free kick for a foul on Tanner Roberts who was brought down on the edge of the box. Sophomore midfielder Brad Sweeney stepped up to take the kick with the ball on the left side of the box. Sweeney chose to ignore the wall and shoot the ball off the post right in the top corner on the keeper’s side to send the game to overtime.
“Today if he misses its game over, he scores game on, 25 seconds left so to have a guy that has that composure in that situation, excellent,” Kiefer said. “I was really pleased that he was able to execute with such pressure on him.”
Sweeney’s goal energized the team going into the overtime period with the Wolfpack looking the more likely of the two teams to find the winner.
“Coach said at the end when he spoke to us, he was like he had no doubt in his mind that we would tie or at least win that game,” Sweeney said. “We was fighting in the second half. I thought we won our battles and we left it late, 20 seconds left, but we was always confident that we could get chances and we did.”
In the second half of overtime, junior forward David Loera nearly sealed the game with a header that went just wide of the net. Despite the quality chances for the Wolfpack in overtime, the game ended as a draw after 110 minutes of play to keep the Wolfpack undefeated at home this season.
For many of the players, there is something special about playing at home.
“We have the support of the crowd here,” Krapf said. “Students here come out and support us. They are great. They have been great the whole season. They always have got our back and especially in games like today when it is close.
The Wolfpack will be back in action on Friday at Clemson for their last regular season game before ACC Tournament play begins the following week.
The team poses for a picture with the seven seniors players on Saturday, Oct. 20 at Dail Soccer Stadium. The seniors and their families were recognized before the game against Syracuse for senior night. The Wolfpack tied with the Orange 1-1.
