Andrew Creech
Sophomore forward Ade Taiwo runs the ball, keeping it away from College of Charleston's Lorenz Esposito at Dail Soccer Stadium Aug. 31, 2015. The Wolfpack defeated the Cougars 2-0, with one goal by freshman forward Julius Duchscherer, and another by junior midfielder Yanni Hachem.
In the home opener for the NC State men’s soccer team, the Wolfpack fell to North Florida 3-2 at Dail Soccer Stadium Sunday night.
Going into halftime possessing a one-goal lead, the Wolfpack failed to score in the second half as the Ospreys pulled ahead with two unanswered goals. NC State drops to 1-2-0 and North Florida improves to 2-0-1.
“Any time you give away a goal in the first five minutes [of the second half], it just changes the momentum,” NC State head coach Kelly Findley said. “You can’t get caught in those little simple things and create goals for your opponent.”
The Wolfpack fell into a 1-0 hole when a 13th-minute right side cross from North Florida’s Adrian Nunez found the foot of a wide open Milan Kovacs, who sent it into the back of the NC State net.
The Ospreys were able to hang on to the lead for slightly under a minute, as NC State redshirt sophomore striker Ade Taiwo broke away from the North Florida backline and put away a pass from senior midfielder Lukas Zarges, tying the match up 1-1. The goal was Taiwo’s second on the season.
It wasn’t long before Taiwo capitalized on his third goal of the season. In the 17th minute, he received a pass from sophomore Simon Blotko and rocketed a shot that ricocheted off the post and in. The goal gave the Wolfpack its first lead of the game, going up 2-1.
“I thought he had a great game tonight,” Findley said of Taiwo. “You want your goal scorers to start scoring goals, and that was a great start for him tonight. If he plays like that the rest of the year, we’re going to be in good shape.”
The 2-1 score held for the remainder of the first half. The Wolfpack outshot the Ospreys 5-1, but was charged with three offside penalties to North Florida’s one.
North Florida answered with a quick second half goal on a beautiful cross to the left side by Jay Bolt to Adrian Nunez, who headed it past a diving Alex McCauley, the redshirt senior goalkeeper. Nunez’s first goal of the season tied the match 2-2.
In the 63rd minute, the Ospreys threatened with a close range left side shot by Glenn Johnson, but the score remained deadlocked after an impressive save by McCauley.
A challenge by Taiwo in the 67th minute forced him to leave the game as he fell to the ground clutching his hamstring due to cramping. Taiwo was able to walk off under his own power and would later return.
The Pack earned a free kick just outside the box in the 74th minute after a tackle by North Florida’s Andrey Rosales. Rosales was given a yellow card for the challenge. Zarges took the free kick for NC State but nothing came of the chance.
The Ospreys finally broke through in the 77th minute, as Josh Castellanos sprinted by the Wolfpack defense and received a long ball from Bolt. Castellanos was able to sneak one by McCauley into the left corner of the NC State goal, putting North Florida up 3-2.
The Ospreys held on for the remainder of the game despite multiple Wolfpack threats on offense.
“I think we just need to do some simple things a little bit better,” Findley said. “We just have to defend better. Just got to improve and keep working, it’s a long season.”
The Wolfpack will look to improve on tonight’s performance when it takes on No. 6 Syracuse at home on Friday.