NC State women’s soccer suffered a 2-0 loss in its ACC opener to Pittsburgh at Dail Soccer Stadium in Raleigh.
The Wolfpack (1-5-3, 0-1 ACC) played a competitive game against the visiting Panthers (8-1-0, 1-0 ACC), but the red-and-white couldn’t capitalize when it needed to against a tough Pittsburgh team.
NC State kept pace with Pittsburgh for a majority of the first half, but the Panthers scored a crucial first goal in the final moments of the first half. Soon enough, Pitt extended its lead to 2-0 with a goal in the 57th minute that quickly put the match out of reach for the Pack.
“Once you get to 2-0 in this league, you’re going to chase the game,” said head coach Tim Santoro. “You’re not going to come back against teams like [Pittsburgh]. It’s [in] those moments that we just keep shooting ourselves in the foot. I mean, they’re a really good team, but that game could have been a lot different.”
The Wolfpack seemed to be on the wrong side of many of the crucial moments in its match against Pittsburgh. Santoro said managing moments, both on offense and defense, is a focus for NC State.
Instead of heading into the half level with the Panthers, the Wolfpack gave up a crushing last second score off of a corner kick — a continuation of NC State’s recent trend to give up goals at the beginnings and ends of halves.
“At some point, players [have] to execute,” Santoro said. “And we’ve given up a lot of goals, early and late in halves. The first five to 10 minutes of every half sets a tone for that period and we just keep making it hard on ourselves and that’s why we’re in the position we’re in.”
Pitt doubled its lead with an impressive long range shot that curled around junior goalkeeper Olivia Pratapas.
NC State also missed out on its fair share of chances throughout the match. Two straight goal line stands from Pitt in the second half denied NC State a near-surefire goal, and multiple promising looks engineered by senior forward Jameese Joseph and freshman forward Hannah Jibril proved unfruitful.
By the end of the day, NC State was outshot 23-7, and the Panthers had a whopping 11 corner kicks. Pitt kept the pressure coming all day long, and NC State was just unable to respond accordingly.
The loss to Pittsburgh marks the Pack’s fifth loss in its last six matches — a trend that NC State is not used to.
“We’re fighting it right now,” Santoro said. “There’s no two ways about it. We’re fighting it worse than we have in a long time, and until you have a moment that’s positive, the fight gets harder.”
The Wolfpack’s next test will come against Wake Forest on Thursday, Sept. 21. Kickoff against the Demon Deacons is set for 8 p.m. in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
