For the first time since 2018, NC State men’s soccer secured a win in the NCAA Tournament. Back then, it was against Campbell; this time, they defeated another in-state rival, UNC-Charlotte. Extending the Pack’s season, freshman defenseman Niko Markovic headed the ball past Charlotte goalie Leonard Stritter for the win.

The All-ACC freshman capped off the game with his first goal of the season in no bigger moment. Despite the Pack taking the lead in the final five minutes of regulation and then giving it up three minutes later, it withstood and grinded it out in front of the Raleigh faithful.

“The guys just proved it on the field,” Markovic said. “We were dogs for the whole time, and the fact that I got the header, I’m just extremely happy about it. I was working on it this week, but it wouldn’t be possible without all the guys pushing the whole time.”

Heading the ball further into the box, sophomore forward Donavan Phillip assisted on Markovic’s game-winner and scored the Pack’s first goal of the game. The crowd at Dail Soccer Field saw Phillip drive the Pack offense consistently when he was on the pitch.

Receiving passes from midfield, Phillip turned upfield using his size and speed to get the ball in dangerous areas. A big reason for the Pack’s 12-2 corner differential was because of Phillip, who had numerous cross attempts thwarted at the last second.

The 49ers came out pressing high against the Pack and looking like the better team. Coming off an American Conference championship win, Charlotte had played three games since NC State played its last match.

The high press forced turnovers of possession for the Pack as Charlotte was able to dominate the midfield early on. Eventually, the Pack shook off its nerves and dictated the pace throughout the majority of the first half.

With both teams playing a high-defensive line and pushing guys forward, each team’s best scoring opportunities of the half came on the counterattack and in transition. In the final five minutes, the 49ers had a couple of good shots, but none better than the one saved by the high-flying NC State junior goalkeeper Logan Erb.

“You got to balance where you’re playing the ball and where you’re losing it,” said head coach Marc Hubbard. “We felt like we could take a little bit more risk with that, just because they weren’t pumping too many numbers [into] counters.”

By the time it reached halftime, the Wolfpack had just one more shot than its opponents but once the kickoff of the second half ensued, that quickly changed.

Fifth-year midfielder Junior Nare had his shot from the half-circle tipped over the bar by Stritter. A tic-tac-toe play failed to convert when senior midfielder Henrique Santos had to watch his shot go across the entire face of the goal without going in. Junior forward Drew Lovelace had to watch Stritter make a diving stop to keep it level. Junior central attacking midfielder Taig Healy had his hands on his head after his shot hit the woodwork and bounced out.

All these chances and no results were hard for Pack fans to stomach, but in the 86th minute, Phillip gave them something to cheer about.

Taking one touch to control a through-ball from Healy, Phillip roofed the ball in the net and immediately ran over to the stands to celebrate.

Healy’s through-ball was just one of many exceptional passes the midfielder made throughout the night. The benefactor of Charlotte’s high-press slowing down, Healy took control of the game and facilitated a majority of the Wolfpack offense.

“Their performance speaks for itself,” Markovic said. “I don’t know how [Phillip] can sprint that much, and [Healy] just finds him every time with those little sneaky passes. Thanks to those guys.”

With only four minutes to go before the Pack clinched a second-round berth, NC State was desperately clearing the ball any chance it could to kill some time off the clock, but it wasn’t enough.

With a minute and one second remaining, Charlotte defender Abubacarr Fofana corralled a deflected shot off the corner and slotted it past Erb in the bottom corner. Coming on just three minutes earlier, Fofana instantly made an impact and sent the 49er fans who traveled to Raleigh into a frenzy.

Scoring a last-minute goal, Charlotte only staved off what felt like the inevitable. On the Pack’s third shot of the overtime period — and in the 103rd minute — Markovic’s first collegiate goal sent NC State through to the second round.

“We had the most shots on goal and were creating a lot of chances,” Markovic said. “The fact that they scored on us in the last minute is just unfortunate but it just proves the spirit of this team because we didn’t give up, we won the game.”

With high beliefs and eyes set on some hardware, the Pack takes the next step traveling to take on the fourth-seeded Georgetown on Sunday at noon.