In an extremely hard-fought senior night matchup, NC State men’s soccer tied the No. 4 Syracuse Orange 1-1 on Saturday, Oct. 22 at Dail Soccer Field.

Prior to the start of the game, the Wolfpack took a few minutes to celebrate its six graduating seniors: midfielder Declan Brose, defender Kendall Edwards, goalkeeper Windham Ellis, forward Jared Miller, midfielder Conor Kelly and defender Pablo Pedregosa. These players will be sorely missed, particularly Kelly, Pedregosa and Edwards, who have started all 14 of the Pack’s games this season.

Against Syracuse (12-2-2, 5-1-1 ACC), the Wolfpack (5-5-4, 1-4-1 ACC) proved its ability to hold its own against a ranked opponent. The Orange entered the match on a four-game win streak, including two against ranked foes, and likely was not expecting the challenge that NC State posed given that the Wolfpack has struggled to record a win in the ACC while Syracuse has dominated the conference.

In the first half of Saturday’s game, the Pack was outshot by Syracuse 13-1, though neither team managed to record a goal. The Orange used its speed and strength to keep the Wolfpack on the defensive end for the majority of the half and prevent NC State from creating quality scoring opportunities. Despite Syracuse’s aggressive offensive attack, the red-and-white put on a solid defensive performance that kept the Orange out of the goal.

“We did really well on the defensive end,” said sophomore goalkeeper Lucas Hatsios. “The two guys we looked at when they were on the field together, we really clamped them off.”

Hatsios led the Wolfpack’s defensive effort, recording an impressive career-high eight saves, four in each half of the game. Despite 20 shots from the Orange over the course of the match, eight of which were on goal, Syracuse could not find a way past a very resilient NC State squad.

In the second half of the game, the red-and-white came out with a new burst of energy, seeming to have gained much more confidence in its ability to compete with a ranked Syracuse team. The Pack controlled the ball offensively much more often than in the previous half, and eventually its hard work paid off.

In the 51st minute, sophomore midfielder Noe Cabezas scored his first goal of the season off of an assist from sophomore forward Henrique Santos. Cabeza’s goal came on the first shot of the half and only the Pack’s second of the game.

The Orange responded by netting a goal of its own just two minutes later, tying the game 1-1. Despite each team’s best efforts, neither one was able to score another goal and come away with a victory.

Syracuse played an extremely rough game, recording a total of 14 fouls as compared to NC State’s two, but the Pack didn’t let the Orange’s physicality put it off its game.

“It’s not the tactics when you play Syracuse,” said head coach George Kiefer. “It’s the 50-50s, the battling, the fighting, the togetherness. It’s more the humanistic side of the game. I thought in terms of our approach, in terms of our human contribution to the match: excellent.”

The red-and-white will complete its four-game homestand at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 25 against the Radford Highlanders. The match will be closed to the public.