NC State women’s soccer suffered its second straight loss after falling to Virginia Tech 4-1 in Blacksburg, Virginia.
The Wolfpack’s 2023 woes didn’t stop in its one-stop road trip to Virginia Tech (6-4-3, 3-2 ACC). NC State (1-7-5, 0-3-3) is still searching for its first win since Aug. 20; however, the Hokies dominated with a three-goal second half to smoothly put away the red-and-white.
After a rough last outing — a lopsided 4-0 loss to No. 1 UNC-Chapel Hill — the Wolfpack responded admirably by taking the Hokies to halftime with a 1-1 score line. But once the second period rolled around, NC State gave up three unanswered goals in a crucial ACC matchup.
With less than six matches left in the season, each and every match increases in importance as the year churns on. In turn, the Wolfpack came out swinging. Even though the Hokies struck first with an unassisted goal in the 13th minute, NC State counterpunched with a 20th-minute score off a set-piece.
After freshman midfielder Rosalie Olou earned a free kick in a dangerous position, sophomore defender Taylor Chism sent a high-arcing pass towards the box that found the foot of junior midfielder Emika Kawagishi. The junior unselfishly sent one final pass across the goal to senior forward Alexis Strickland who smashed in a point-blank goal to tie the contest at 1-1.
Senior forward Jameese Joseph also got in on the offensive action for the Wolfpack in the first half. However, neither team had much luck for the rest of the first half, even with Joseph’s attacking prowess.
Once the second half kicked off, everything went downhill for the visitors. Virginia Tech started the Hokies’ second-half scoring spree with a 63rd-minute goal that was put past junior goalkeeper Olivia Pratapas.
Virginia Tech struck twice more in rapid succession on two nearly identical goals to finish off the red-and-white. Two outside-the-box chip shots with just enough touch got over Pratapas’ hands on back-to-back possessions, quickly shutting down any hopes the Wolfpack had of escaping Blacksburg with a favorable result.
In a span of just 15 minutes, NC State lost all energy it had from its first 60 minutes of play, ultimately falling 4-1 in another rough outing.
NC State is set to return to Dail Soccer Stadium in Raleigh on Sunday, Oct. 8 for a showdown with Virginia. Kickoff against the Cavaliers is set for 2 p.m.
