A penalty kick goal from sophomore midfielder Roland Minogue lifted the NC State men’s soccer team to a narrow 1-0 victory over William & Mary at the Dail Soccer Field.
At times, the field looked more like a shallow swimming pool, as a torrential downpour persisted throughout the entire 90 minutes and turned the game into a sloppy, slippery contest the Pack (2-1-1) had to dig deep to win against a tough Tribe (2-2) squad.
“I think it was a great win,” Wolfpack head coach Kelly Findley said. “Sometimes you’ve got to win ugly. A year ago there’s no way we would’ve won this game.”
The game began, and continued, at a frenetic pace. The poor conditions wreaked havoc on touches, passes and player movement. Fouls, slides and slips were the most prominent features of the match, but both teams played furiously.
Over the opening 20 minutes, the game was end-to-end, as neither team could really get a grip on the match. Since moving to a 4-3-3 formation, State has tried to play with more control, but the conditions made this incredibly challenging.
“It’s always tough when it’s raining like that,” junior midfielder and captain Holden Fender said. “We have good players and want to put [the ball] down and play, but at the end of the day you’ve got to get results.”
A result was what the Pack got, eventually, but it took a mistake from the Tribe defense to get the go-ahead goal. Sophomore winger Travis Wannemuehler received the ball on the right flank and drove toward the middle of the penalty box, evading defenders along the way.
Wannemuehler’s slide-rule pass through the defense found onrushing freshman Zach Knudson, whose touch past the keeper would’ve given him a tap-in had the Tribe goalie not taken his legs out from beneath him.
The referee made no mistake and pointed straight to the penalty spot, where a confident Minogue stepped up to take, emphatically driving the ball past the diving keeper into the lower corner to score his first goal for the Wolfpack.
“I always go to that side and picked it before I stepped up,” Minogue said. “I was grateful when it hit the corner.”
Minogue’s goal capped another strong starting performance. Over the past few games he’s played his way into the side with his strong play.
“Roland’s a great passer,” Findley said about his game-winner. “He’s a confident guy, he wants to win, and I was happy he stepped up and won the game for us with the penalty kick.”
With the lead, the Pack settled in and played more direct, looking to hit the Tribe on the counter, rather than forcing the ball on the ground where a misplaced pass or touch could’ve resulted in a William & Mary chance, but the half finished 1-0.
Early in the second half, State nearly extended its lead to two, as freshman striker Ade Taiwo attempted an audacious bicycle kick off a Wannemuehler cross. Despite making solid contact, the ball flew inches wide of the post.
With the rain picking up and the clock steadily ticking away, the Tribe raised its intensity twofold, putting tremendous pressure on State’s defense in the last 25 minutes.
But time and again, the senior center back pairing of Moss Jackson-Atogi and Clement Simonin beat back the opposition’s attack.
Jackson-Atogi was particularly excellent filling in for the missing freshman standout Conor Donovan, who’s still with the U-20 Men’s National Team in Argentina but returns later this week.
“It’s great that we have guys like Moss to fill in,” Findley said. “He’s a guy with great experience, confidence, and quality. He was a rock tonight.”
Senior captain Ryan Metts at right back and freshman left back Caleb Duvernay, a recent starter, also performed with distinction, while junior goalkeeper Alex McCauley produced a shutout in an error-free performance between the sticks.
The Pack earned the win through tough defending and resolute confidence despite awful conditions for soccer and a strong, “senior-led” opponent in William & Mary.
State looks to build on the two-game win streak as the team travels to Winston-Salem to take on a hardened Wake Forest (2-2) side Friday.
