In a chippy affair that featured 35 combined fouls and eight yellow cards, the NC State men’s soccer team topped Boston College 3-1 Wednesday night at Dail Soccer Stadium for its first ACC Tournament win since 2011.

The eighth-seeded Wolfpack (9-5-3) scored the game-winning goal in the 71st minute on a beautiful team counterattack finished off by sophomore midfielder David Loera. NC State also got a free-kick goal in the first half from sophomore midfielder Brad Sweeney, and a late goal from freshman forward Alex Bautista to put the final nail in the ninth-seeded Eagles’ (4-8-4) coffin.

“I like that we put three goals in,” Kiefer said. “I’m pleased we won [an ACC Tournament game] this year. You look at how the team has done and the results they have against very good teams, this was an important match for the program. I’m very pleased with the discipline the guys showed.”

That game winner from Loera came just nine minutes after the Eagles had tied the match at 1-1, and was sparked by a midfield-splitting run out of the defensive half by Wolfpack freshman defender Pepe Garcia. Garcia threaded a pass to junior midfielder Gabriel Machado down the sideline, who took one touch before driving a picture-perfect cross into the foot of Loera.

Loera had his defender beat by one step, which was just enough for Machado to find him with the phenomenal pass. Loera, who has been the heart and soul of this Wolfpack team, calmly redirected the cross into the net for a 2-1 lead and the win.

“I saw Machado get the ball,” Loera said. “As soon as I saw him I started just running hoping he would play me the ball. He played a great ball, and I found myself one-v-one with the keeper and it was just touching it right by him.”

NC State opened up the scoring in the 10th minute, on a goal that has become the new normal for Sweeney. The English-born midfielder has a team-high four goals, and all of them have come from direct free kicks.

“Sweeney’s been money all year,” Kiefer said. “Different spots, different places. He just hits a real heavy ball and gets it on frame.”

His 10th-minute opener was no different, as Sweeney took on a free-kick opportunity from about 30 yards out, diagonal to the corner of the 18-yard box. He powered a curling half-cross, half-shot into the box, that barely cleared the head of jumping senior forward Tanner Roberts.

The ball took a bounce, before finding its way into the back of the net. For Sweeney, it was another impressive free-kick strike, but this one came with some luck.

“I thought I got lucky today because it was a cross,” Sweeney said. “I thought it was a good ball in, no one got a touch. It was a good ball and it went in.”

Things got heated in the final minute of the first half, as Loera and BC midfielder Lasse Lehmann got into it following a hard foul on Loera. The chippy battle continued into the second half, as things never calmed down and eight different players, including Loera and Lehmann, were shown cards.

“Competitors do that,” Loera said. “They find any way to win. Obviously we knew coming in here that it could get chippy. So we just had to keep our heads and play our game, and we came out with a dub.”

NC State dominated the ball and scoring chances through the early stages of the second half, but conceded a crafty goal to the Eagles in the 62nd minute. Boston College had been utilizing a dangerous long throw-in from forward Trevor Davock, but changed things up a bit to find the goal.

Davock appeared to be set for another long throw into the penalty area, but opted instead to throw it in short to midfielder Kristofer Konradsson. Konradsson lined the ball up and ripped a shot from outside the box, that Wolfpack sophomore goalie Leon Krapf had to make a tough save on.

The rebound fell to defender Heidar Aegisson, who crossed a ball over Krapf and to the diving head of defender Abe Bibas, who powerfully headed it into the back of the net to make it 1-1.

The Wolfpack didn’t take much time to grab its lead back, as the Loera goal came less than 10 minutes after Bibas’. The game was sealed in the 88th minute, as Sweeney setup Bautista who scored his first career goal with a powerful finish into the bottom-right corner.

“I don’t have any words,” Bautista said. “Everything was just going through my head. I was just like ‘I cannot believe I just scored this goal.’ Especially in a big tournament like the ACC. I think overall it was mind blowing.”

With the win, NC State will now move on to face the No. 1 team in the country. The Wolfpack will travel to take on top-seeded Wake Forest Sunday afternoon at Spry Stadium, a place where the Pack got beat 3-0 earlier in the season.

“We want to go back there and put in a good performance,” Sweeney said. “We know that we went there last time and didn’t really play well and wasn’t ourselves. I think we’re going there, and we have got nothing to fear. We just need to go there and express ourselves and play like we did today.”