The N.C. State men’s soccer team edged past Pittsburgh 1-0 in an overtime thriller on Friday night.
The Wolfpack (2-0, 1-0 ACC) controlled the game throughout, dominating possession and outshooting the Panthers (0-1-2, 0-1 ACC) by a 19-6 margin. But State couldn’t translate its dominance into goals until the 94th minute.
“We scored in overtime, but to be fair we probably should have scored a lot earlier,” head coach Kelly Findley said. “We created more than enough chances to win the game earlier than that but overall I thought it was a really good effort.”
Most of the Wolfpack’s attacks came down the left flank, occupied by senior midfielder Alex Martinez.
Other than an early left-footed shot by junior forward Nick Surkamp and a tame effort from senior midfielder Nazmi Albadawi, State couldn’t put together any dangerous attacks and halftime came with the score deadlocked at 0-0.
The Wolfpack came out of halftime strong, attacking the Panthers’ goal and creating a flurry of chances. The Wolfpack dominated the second half by creating 13 shots compared to Pitt’s two. State also won nine corner kicks throughout the match, three times as many as the Panthers total.
One of the best chances of the match came in the 72nd minute as Martinez ran down a long pass and got behind the Pitt defense. After maneuvering past his defender in the corner, Martinez fed freshman forward Davi Ramos the middle of the box.
But with the nearest Pitt defender more than five yards away, Ramos fired his first-time effort high from 15 yards out.
State’s fans, in particular the student sections behind each goal, were vocal all night. The Wolfpack faithful came into full voice after Ramos’ miss, giving the State players encouragement in their first home match of the season.
“The fans were fantastic,” junior defender Clement Simonin said. “That was the first time I’ve played in front of that many people that was fantastic. I think they helped us big time to get the win so I think they deserve the win just as much as we do.”
Another glorious chance came and went in the 80th minute, this time with Martinez passing to Surkamp. The Manasas, Va. native had a one-on-one opportunity against the Pittsburgh goalkeeper, but his shot hit the goalkeeper and deflected off the crossbar. A frenzy around the goal ensued, but the Panthers’ defense eventually cleared the ball.
Martinez forced a brilliant save from the Pitt goalkeeper in the 84th minute, with the goalie going full stretch to make a fingertip save. Wolfpack senior goalkeeper Fabian Otte responded in kind in the 87th minute, acrobatically tipping a long-range shot over the crossbar to preserve the deadlock.
After regulation ended in a 0-0 tie, the Wolfpack scored the game’s only goal just four minutes into a sudden-death overtime period.
After winning a corner kick, senior defender Gbenga Makinde whipped his corner to the back post, straight into the path of Simonin. The Frenchman directed his header back across goal, where the ball deflected off a Pitt defender towards his own goal.
The referee judged that the ball crossed the goal line, winning the match for State. The goal was awarded to Surkamp, his first ever for the Wolfpack.
“Clement hit it back across and then it was just me and the defender standing right in front of the goal,” Surkamp said. “We both battled for it, it hit off both of us and went in.”
After the referee awarded the goal, Findley and his staff ran onto the field to congratulate the players on their first ACC win of the 2013 season.
“I thought our guys managed the game really well which is what I was most pleased with,” Findley said. “In games like that you can take too many risks and push too many guys forward but we were very disciplined and I thought in the end we got what we deserved.”
