NC State women’s soccer suffered its first defeat of the season in heartbreaking fashion at Colorado.
Coming off a wild draw against Rutgers, the Wolfpack (1-1-2) tasted a dose of deja vu after scoring a last-minute, set-piece goal to equalize at 1-1 in the 87th minute. However, unlike its duel with the Scarlet Knights, the red-and-white didn’t have the last laugh. Instead, the Buffaloes (4-1) scored on its own set-piece just two minutes later, sending NC State off the pitch with a crushing first loss of the season.
The Buffaloes’ early 1-0 lead wasn’t broken until the Pack’s late goal. Similar to NC State’s match against Rutgers, freshman defender Mackenzie Smith assisted the score by taking the set piece. This time, though, it was sophomore Taylor Chism who rocketed in the equalizer, making it 1-1 with just seconds left.
However, Colorado didn’t dwell on the late score. Instead, the home squad went right down the pitch and earned a corner of its own, and forward Shyra James powered in her second goal of the night to set off a celebration in Boulder.
Mere seconds on the clock left NC State walking off the pitch with no real chance to respond. An injury to senior goalkeeper Maria Echezarreta was injured moments before Colorado’s score, leaving junior goalkeeper Olivia Patrapas in between the posts for the final minutes of the match. However, whether it was Patrapas or Echezarreta in goal, no one was stopping Colorado’s point-blank, set-piece winner.
Echezarreta made many crucial saves throughout the match, including a diving save in the second half and a one-on-one block early on to keep the Buffaloes out of the net after their early score. By the end of the match, she finished with five saves.
Offensively, the Pack had its fair share of chances before Chism leveled it late. Namely, senior forward Jameese Joseph had a golden opportunity just feet from the goal minutes before Chism’s strike, but she was denied by an impressive defensive effort from the Buffaloes.
Meanwhile, junior midfielder Emika Kawagishi made her season debut after suffering a season-ending injury before the 2022 season started. Kawagishi fired two shots in her 34 minutes of play time, making her presence known as soon as she subbed on from the Pack’s bench.
NC State won’t return home after its heartbreaking loss. Rather, the red-and-white is set to continue its road trip out west with a match at Denver on Sunday, Sept. 3 at 2 p.m. EST.
