The NC State Women’s soccer team fought back hard from a two-goal deficit, but was unable to complete a comeback and suffered a 2-1 defeat at the hands of the Louisville Cardinals on Sunday at Dail Soccer Stadium.
On a cool, clear senior day in Raleigh, the Wolfpack honored the five seniors on the team, all who have been here through the ups as well as the downs.
“It’s been amazing,” senior defender Hannah Keogh said. “Especially the turn around, that’s been the best part of it. Being the last class that went through the transition year. We had a pretty bad freshman year and to be able to come full circle and win 10 games every season in the three years since, it’s been really awesome.”
NC State only won four games in that freshman year and finished the season on an 11-game losing streak. To turn that around and win 10-plus games in each of the next three season has been extraordinary for the players and team as a whole.
Unfortunately for them, they were unable to go out with a win, as the team struggled with keeping the Cardinals off the board early. Both halves saw Louisville find the net within the first 15 minutes.
“The seniors have meant a lot to all of us,” sophomore forward Courtney Walker said. “They’ve built this program from the start, we all look up to them and it was upsetting to lose on their day, but it’s meant a lot to be there with them this year.”
The first goal came in the 21st minute when Louisville received a corner kick that was placed perfectly at the near post and headed in right past senior goalkeeper Sydney Wootten.
The Wolfpack struggled in the first half, unable to gain any momentum due to losing balls early in possession.
The second half started in a similar manner, with the Wolfpack allowing a goal just five minutes in. This time it was a shot that was blocked but rebounded onto the foot of a Cardinal who shot in right past Wootten.
After this goal, NC State knew it had to up the energy and started attacking much more aggressively.
The aggressive play finally got its break in the 66th minute as junior forward Tziarra King found Walker on a perfect through ball. The pass drew out the Louisville keeper and Walker was able to run past her and pass the ball into the back of the net to score the first goal of her career.
“It felt really good to score and contribute to the team,” Walker said. “I was making the run, today we worked on finding balls in behind, so [King] found me in behind, it was good to score a team goal, you know I wish we could have bounced back and got another, but it still felt really well.”
The Pack upped the energy seeing itself only down one goal, but the Cardinals defense held up and were able to close out for the victory.
“We’re looking to improve overall,” Walker said. “Cleaning up our set pieces because that’s where we’re lacking right now, just working hard, competing and getting a win.”
NC State has its last regular season game against Virginia in Charlottesville on Thursday at 6 p.m. before the potential ACC tournament.
