Clemson wins in second period of overtime

It was a bad day at the office for the men’s soccer team as the Clemson Tigers (2-4, 1-1 ACC) beat N.C . State (3-3-2, 0-2 ACC) 2-1 at the Dail Soccer Stadium in what was a game of unfortunate events for the Pack.

The game also marked the annual Play4Kay game, in remembrance of Kay Yow , former N.C . State women’s basketball head coach, and her battle with breast cancer for which many players chose to wear pink armbands.

Clemson started the game fast, accompanied by some neat passing which led to a flurry of shots and put pressure on the Pack defense but sophomore goalkeeper Fabian Otte was equally up to the task.

After stopping the first wave of attacks, it was State’s turn to turn on the heat as redshirt freshman forward Nazmi Albadawi and freshman midfielder Ollie Kelly combined beautifully but failed to convert any of the chances despite numerous one-on-one situations with the Tigers goalkeeper.

Albadawi soon got the goal he deserved in the 22nd minute when freshmen forward Monbo Bokar laid the ball off for Albadawi to shoot, who didn’t disappoint with a low shot in the bottom right corner to put the Pack in the driving seat.

The lead, however, didn’t last for long as in the 23rd minute Clemson midfielder Ara Amirkhanian struck a shot from 30-yards out only to beat Otte after getting a thick deflection of a Wolfpack defender to equalize and put the game back in the balance.

The half ended with no further drama with State having eight shots in comparison to six by the Tigers as the halftime saw NCSU men’s soccer alumni being recognized for their contribution to the soccer team over the years.

State started the second half fast with numerous attempts that went in vain but finally got something to talk about when freshmen forward Zabarle Kollie was felled in the penalty box after the Tiger’s keeper tried to get to the ball only to go at his legs for which the referee didn’t hesitate to point to the spot. State squandered yet another chance to go up as senior defender Justin Willis had his weak effort in the right corner easily saved by the Tiger’s keeper.

The regulation time ended uneventfully, barring a shot that struck the Tiger’s bar but the Pack went all guns blazing in over time with a barrage of shots on the Clemson goal, who had their goal keeper to thank for.

It all looked set to end tied but Clemson forward, Bryniar Benediktsson , had other plans as with 29 seconds left in overtime, Benediktsson received a long clearance and controlled it beautifully to shoot it past the keeper after a lapse in concentration by the defense, to give Clemson the win.

Otte was left ruing the penalty miss but defended his defenders for their lack of judgment that led to the winning goal.

“In the end it [penalty kick miss] hurts, if we had scored maybe we would have won the game, but we had so many chances after the penalty kick so we should have won the game nonetheless.” Otte said. “The defense did really good, it was just one key moment in the end where we did not play with concentration but in the whole game we defended really well I think.”

Albadawi , who scored the only goal in the game for the Pack and now leads the State in points scored, expressed his disappointment at conceding in the final minute despite being the better team for the entire night.

“I mean it’s the worst feeling, but we’ve got to move on from it. It happened, it’s over right now; we’ve got to learn from it,” Albadawi said. “Just watching them celebrate on our field is the worst thing to watch, we have to pick ourselves up for the rest of our games. I thought we outplayed them and played well as a team.”

Coach Kelly Findley , who perhaps was left to rue the innumerable opportunities his team failed to convert, expressed his dissatisfaction with the end result.

“Its frustrating, I think we played really well as a group, created 10 chances plus the penalty kicks and had five breakaways,” Findley said. “We would have won if we had scored that [penalty kick], they would have probably conceded another one if we put that away but those are key moments but their team didn’t need as many chances as we did, they had two, one was a half chance but they scored.”

Findley felt it would be unfair to judge the team by the end result and felt it was important to highlight the progress the team has made.

“I think in the end you have to worry about the process,” Findley said. “If the process is right, the win is going to come eventually and it’s just frustrating we didn’t capitalize on the key moment when we needed it.”

N.C . State takes on Georgia State at a 7 p.m . kick-off on Monday.