NC State men’s soccer suffered a heartbreaking 4-1 defeat to No. 24 Pitt in the first round of the 2022 ACC tournament on Wednesday, Nov. 2.
After an intense 90 minutes of play in Pittsburgh, the Wolfpack entered overtime tied 1-1 with the Panthers. But it was in extra time that the more experienced and higher-ranked Pitt squad turned on the burners, scoring three goals to create a lopsided scoreline by the end of the full 110 minutes of play.
The Wolfpack managed to go blow-for-blow with the Panthers in regular time, as the red-and-white was able to match the home side’s 12th minute goal with a goal of its own just 14 minutes later. Sophomore forward Luke Hille scored the Pack’s lone goal in the match, and that score proved enough to get the scrappy NC State squad to overtime with its ACC opponents.
UNREAL by @hille_luke. His third of the year ties this one up!
Story continues below advertisementWolfpack 1, Panthers 1 pic.twitter.com/TIYmL1Dli4
— NC State Men's Soccer (@PackMensSoccer) November 2, 2022
Once overtime started, however, NC State was unable to hang around with Pitt any longer. Just one minute into the extra period, the Panthers scored their first goal in almost 80 minutes, taking a 2-1 lead. Even with the chance to nab the equalizer, the Wolfpack could only sit back and watch as the Panthers added two more scores by the time the clock hit zero.
Despite Pitt racing away with the match in OT, NC State certainly put up an impressive effort overall. Sophomore goalkeeper Lucas Hatsios made four saves throughout the match, effectively dealing with the 19 shots the Panthers took. Even though the Wolfpack had half as many shots, it still had just as many chances on goal as its opponents.
Hille led the Pack’s offensive effort with three shots, and graduate midfielder Conor Kelly fell right behind him with two shots. Those two posed the biggest threat to the Pitt defense, but the red-and-white couldn’t find the go-ahead score in the first 90 minutes, nor the equalizer in extra time.
While this loss marks the end of NC State’s short 2022 ACC tournament journey, the squad may still have a chance to play more soccer before the official end of the season in the NCAA tournament.
