Sophomore midfielder Taylor Porter shields the ball from a Notre Dame player. Porter took one shot during the game which was not on goal. The NC State women’s soccer team lost to Notre Dame 0-1 at Dail Soccer Stadium on Sept. 22. " />
Logan LaBo
Sophomore midfielder Taylor Porter shields the ball from a Notre Dame player. Porter took one shot during the game which was not on goal. The NC State women’s soccer team lost to Notre Dame 0-1 at Dail Soccer Stadium on Sept. 22.
The NC State women’s soccer team’s magical tourney run continued Friday night, as it defeated No. 19 Pepperdine 1-0 to advance to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament. A warm night in Palo Alto, California, saw the Wolfpack outshoot, out-possess and outclass Pepperdine.
The Wolfpack (11-8-2) doubled the Waves’ (13-5-4) shot count for the night, eight to four. State also put more of its shots on goal than its opponent, four compared to two. Several members of the team recorded a shot during the game, including senior Gladys Loyas, sophomore Hannah Keogh and freshman Ricarda Walkling.
Freshman Tziarra King squeezed off four shots throughout the night, but Waves goalkeeper Hannah Seabert managed to deny her on every attempt. Seabert played well for her team, registering three saves, but a goal was destined to come for the Wolfpack.
Sophomore midfielder Taylor Porter scored the match’s lone goal in the 65th minute when she headed home a ball from inside the box. Freshman Kristina Schuster was credited with the assist.
Sophomore goalie Sydney Wootten once again held a clean sheet, coming up with two big time saves. One of her crucial saves came in the 70th minute of action when she dove to the ground to deny Pepperdine’s Hailey Stenberg. Wootten also shut out Minnesota in the first round.
Pepperdine drew its tournament bid after winning its third West Coast Conference Championship this past season. This year’s NCAA tournament was a ninth appearance for the Waves. Pepperdine defeated the University of California in penalty kicks in the first round.
With the win, NC State reaches the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1995, where the team lost in the quarterfinals. Back then, however, only 24 teams made the tournament, whereas 64 do today. The game also marked a record 11th win for the program, the most in a single season since 1996. Additionally, this is only the fourth time in program history that the team advanced to the third round of the NCAA Tournament.
As crazy as it may seem, a year ago the Pack finished the season a dismal 4-15 overall. The year before, the team had only mustered two wins. And yet, here is the Wolfpack. In head coach Tim Santoro’s fourth season, NC State has won 11 games and has put itself only one game away from the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament.
The Wolfpack will face the winner of the Stanford/Santa Clara matchup. Stanford is currently ranked No. 1 in the nation according to NCAA RPI. The Sweet 16 match will kickoff at 4 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 20.