Coming off one of its biggest wins in recent history, the NC State men’s soccer team will kick back into action Tuesday night on the road at UNC-Wilmington.
The Wolfpack (8-3-2, 2-3-1 ACC) is coming off of a thrilling 1-0 victory over No. 1 UNC-Chapel Hill, its first win over the Tar Heels in Raleigh since 1997. With the big victory, the Pack has moved back into national polls, sitting at No. 20 in the Top Drawer Soccer poll.
The Pack’s last midweek game of the season will be one of its toughest, as the Seahawks (10-2-1) sit at No. 13 in the country and have dropped just two games all season. It will be another tough test for NC State, sandwiched in between a slate of conference games in the country’s premiere soccer conference.
UNC-W’s two losses this season have come to Fairfield in an early-season tournament, and to UNC-Chapel Hill two weeks ago. As a whole, the Seahawks are outscoring opponents by a whopping 30-7 margin. Even more impressive, UNC-W has allowed just two second-half goals all season and is outscoring opponents 19-2 in the second 45 minutes.
Seahawks goalkeeper Ryan Cretens has posted six shutouts so far this season, and has a miniscule goals against average of just 0.56. As a team, the Seahawks’ goals against average of .529 is sixth-best in the country. It’s tough to score on the Seahawks, but it’s just as tough to keep them out of the back of the net as well.
At well over two goals per game, UNC-W has been torching opponent defenses. Emil Elveroth leads the way with nine goals and four assists, followed closely by Phillip Goodrum with eight goals and four assists.
NC State has done a fine job this season of controlling potent attacks, but will have its hands full with Elveroth and Goodrum Tuesday night. While stopping the UNC-W attack will prove challenging, the real issue for NC State will be finding the back of the net itself.
The Wolfpack is averaging just 1.31 goals per game, and doesn’t have a single player with more than four goals on its roster. Sophomore forward David Loera scored the lone goal of the Pack’s 1-0 win over UNC-CH, and has been playing really well for head coach George Kiefer.
With Loera facilitating the attack, and dangerous options in sophomore Manny Perez, senior Tanner Roberts, freshman Ivy Brisma and redshirt senior Ade Taiwo playing in front of him, the Wolfpack may be able to crack the Seahawks’ near-impenetrable defense.
The game will be played at UNC-W Soccer Stadium, and will kick off at 7 p.m. Tuesday night.
