NC State men’s soccer cruised to a smooth, 3-1 win over the Radford Highlanders to officially open its 2023 season at Dail Soccer Stadium in Raleigh. 

The Wolfpack (1-0) dominated in its three exhibition games, outscoring its opponents 10-3, and didn’t flinch as Dail Soccer Stadium filled with fans for its season-opener. A whopping 19 shots, persistent offensive pressure and high competitive energy paved the way for the 3-1 win over the Highlanders (0-1).

“I was really pleased in terms of the identity — the guys working, the toughness, the competing side of it,” said head coach George Kiefer. “I thought they were pretty relentless in that regard for the majority of the match, which was good to see.”

NC State generated chance after chance and finally knocked one in after some precision passing in the 25th minute. Once in the final third, the ball quickly traveled from senior forward Junior Nare to freshman midfielder Yuta Toya, who found graduate forward and Duke transfer Scotty Taylor on one final connection. Taylor tapped in the Pack’s first goal of the season, and his first goal in the red-and-white allowed the Wolfpack to break the match open. 

“It was great on Junior and Yuta’s behalf,” Taylor said. “I had the easy part of just tapping it. They did most of the work. But yeah, we just needed one, and then we had enough quality to keep going and get more.”

The red-and-white kept its foot on the gas, creating a number of promising opportunities via a slew of corners and free kicks. Graduate defender Kendall Edwards nearly scored with a point blank header off a corner kick late in the period, but the Highlander keeper was there to thwart the Pack’s captain at the goal line. 

In spite of its overwhelming offensive pressure, NC State couldn’t get another by the end of the first 45. However, the Wolfpack doubled its lead in the 59th minute after a long through ball from the midfield split the Highlander defense. Junior forward Luke Hille found himself on the other end of the pass and slid his first goal of the season past the goalie.

But Radford didn’t take long to respond after Hille’s goal. Just three minutes later, the Highlanders got one past junior goalkeeper Lucas Hatsios to cut the deficit. 

Another one-goal margin prompted a resurgence from the NC State offense, though. While it took some time, Nare bagged his first of the season in the 76th minute to put the game away at 3-1.

Despite the final two-goal margin, the red-and-white felt there was more to be had, and more room for improvement in capitalizing on its many opportunities. 

“I feel like we should have had six or seven [goals] tonight,” Kiefer said. “And that’s with missing some [shots]. We just have to get a little cleaner. The timing of it, the extra pass, is it behind the guy? Is it in front of them? … So just cleaning up around the goal a little bit more will help us.”

Considering NC State’s 19 shots to Radford’s two, it wasn’t just Kiefer who felt like the Wolfpack left goals on the table. However, it just means that the red-and-white has plenty of room to grow after its impressive start to the season. 

“This is just the start,” Taylor said. “We have a lot to build off of. This game could have been six, 7-0. And, that’s the kind of mentality we want to take into our next games. But, overall, it’s positive that we won.”

Next up for NC State is a date with USC-Upstate on Monday, Aug. 28. The match is set to take place at Dail Soccer Stadium at 7 p.m.