In its first road ACC matchup of the season, the No. 21 ranked NC State women’s soccer team suffered a 2-1 defeat at the hands of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in South Bend, Indiana Sunday afternoon.
The 1 p.m. game provided the perfect atmosphere for a soccer game, 77 degrees Fahrenheit and sunny, and gave fans exactly what they came to see with two goals in the first 10 minutes.
Notre Dame (6-6-0, 2-2 ACC) struck first with a goal just five minutes in. The Wolfpack’s (8-3-2, 1-2-1 ACC) senior goalkeeper Sydney Wootten saved the first attempt off of a corner kick, but it resulted in a rebound that found the foot of Karin Muya. Muya then found the back of the net for her first goal of the season.
The Pack has struggled with letting in early goals, but came back quick with one of its own on Sunday. Wasting no time, senior midfielder Taylor Porter found herself in the same position Notre Dame did five minutes earlier. Porter found the ball at her feet after a corner kick and shot around a defender and under the arm of goalie Brooke Littman for her first goal of the season.
The half saw Notre Dame maintain control with seven corner kicks and seven shots on goal, while the Wolfpack had only one of each. It was obvious that NC State needed to come out with more energy in the second half.
That was exactly what happened as the Pack had multiple shots within the first 10 minutes of the second half, but was unable to get anything on target.
Fifteen minutes into the half, the Fighting Irish struck again when a long shot went off the crossbar and landed right in front of the goal to be tapped in by Jennifer Westendorf.
The rest of the match saw Wootten make some great saves, but the Wolfpack offense was unable to get into a rhythm and couldn’t pull off the comeback.
After defeating Notre Dame 4-1 last year in the ACC Tournament, this was a disappointing result for the Pack who was hoping to cement its resume as one of the best teams in the ACC.
This was the first game of a four-game road trip for the Wolfpack, who goes on to face Syracuse, No. 11 Boston College and No. 10 Florida State in its next three games.
The Wolfpack’s game against Syracuse will be Thursday at 7 p.m. in Syracuse, New York.
