No. 19 NC State men’s soccer defeated the Louisville Cardinals by a final score of 1-0 in its last home game of the regular season Sunday night at Dail Soccer Stadium.

The Wolfpack’s (8-2-5, 3-2-2 ACC) win over Louisville (6-5-4, 0-4-3 ACC) extended its unbeaten streak to six games. NC State has not lost a game in over a month and has now won three in a row.

The first and only goal of the game came from senior midfielder Henrique Santos in the 11th minute of the game. This came off of a save by fifth-year goalkeeper Enzo Carvalho. The save gave the red-and-white momentum, leading to it getting opportunities to shoot and eventually score.

“We needed that goal,” Santos said. “We only scored one the whole game, and we were able to hold that advantage.”

Although the Pack scored early, it couldn’t add to its lead despite getting five shots on goal. This transitioned into Louisville putting more pressure on the Pack’s defense.

“Towards the end of the first half, we were definitely weathering some pressure and defending deeper in our end,” said head coach Marc Hubbard. “For the first 25 to 30 minutes there, we had plenty of chances to make it 2-0, and didn’t do well enough connecting those passes or putting things on target.”

As this was the final home game of the Pack’s regular season, fans, coaches and players reflected on the first season under Hubbard. The first-year head coach has quickly turned around NC State and made it a contender in the ACC.

“His impact is noticeable,” Santos said “Every game, people who come to watch, people that have come to games these previous years; they know how much things have changed positively. You can see it in the way we play, the energy, the atmosphere. I think there’s a general feeling that we can achieve great things this year.”

Both the men’s and women’s soccer teams at NC State have a support club called the “Red Terrors”, which serves as the team’s student sections for the games. Hubbard expressed his appreciation for the Red Terrors after the final home game of the regular season.

“The 12th man in our crowd makes a huge difference in our energy and our ability to play,” Hubbard said. “The scary thing is I think we can improve upon it. We hope that the Red Terrors and the Wolfpack faithful will continue to come out because we anticipate being able to play some home playoff games here.”

The ACC is regarded by many as one of the best conferences in the nation for soccer as teams face top competition in games weekly. Any win against a conference opponent can help a team rise on the national scale, but also help the team win off the field by positively enhancing the team culture and generating confidence. The Wolfpack is no exception and can use this victory to generate momentum going into the final game of the regular season.

“Every ACC game that we get a positive result is huge, especially for our confidence,” Santos said. “Friday’s at Wake, I think we can get a great result there, and then hopefully from then on, just keeping up with the momentum and continue to have a good season.”

The Pack has one more game before the start of the postseason, which will be an away game against the Wake Forest Demon Deacons. NC State will look to keep its October momentum going into November and carry that into the postseason.

The Wolfpack will play its final game of the regular season in Winston-Salem against Wake Forest on Nov. 1. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.