The NC State women’s soccer team increased its win-streak to 13-0-0 against Elon and got its first win of the 2015 season, defeating the Phoenix 2-0 Thursday night at Dail Soccer Stadium.
Freshman defender Ella Bonner and redshirt junior midfielder Alexa Allen scored in the first and second halves, respectively, to get the Wolfpack (1-2-0) back on the winning track after two losses in San Diego. Elon dropped to 1-1-0 at the conclusion of the non-conference match.
“I thought we were sloppy, which after the travel we went through and how tough the games were, I thought we’d still be a little heavy legged from the trip,” said Tim Santoro, the Wolfpack’s head coach. “I thought we actually played better on the West Coast than we did tonight, but it’s a win, it’s a shutout, and I’m pleased for the girls.”
The Wolfpack started slowly, and the Phoenix created a few moments of danger in the opening minutes, but once the home team settled down and found a rhythm, the Pack began to control the game.
Redshirt junior defender Dayna Tomayko was electric making runs out of the back, and once redshirt sophomore Jackie Stengel started seeing more of the ball, NC State started to create chances.
Another key for NC State was freshman forward Maxine Blackwood. The Somerville, New Jersey native replaced 2014 leading scorer Kayla Saager, who transferred after last season.
Santoro said Blackwood’s mix of attributes allows State to play a more complete offensive game.
“Max is a very athletic player,” he said. “She’s a great holdup player. Anything that gets played into her she can keep. She’s able to bring players into the game that way, and that’s something we haven’t had since I’ve been here. Not only does she possess the ball, if we want to play her in behind she’s athletic enough to get in behind, and that’s probably the big difference.
“She’s definitely a handful, and if we combine her with players like Jackie [Stengel] and Crystal [Cordova] and some of the others, we have potential over time to become a good attacking team.”
While Blackwood didn’t score on the night, her strength on the ball helped State’s offense function smoothly. It took 25 minutes to break the deadlock however, with more freshmen involved. Freshman defender Hannah Keogh, one of State’s best players on the night, served in a left-footed free kick that skimmed off a few heads in the box. Eventually, the ball fell to freshman defender Ella Bonner, who hit a looping volley that beat Elon’s keeper, Hanna Macaulay from 25 yards.
Bonner made her third start in as many games and is becoming a key cog in the Wolfpack’s machine.
“It was amazing,” Bonner said. “I’m glad to start for State. It was a good feeling. Hopefully it will continue the rest of the season, and I can help the team move forward.”
Bonner, Keogh and Blackwood make up part of a strong freshman class that’s played big minutes during the first three matches. Midfielders Taylor Porter and Crystal Cordova were also excellent in their regular-season home debuts.
Cordova was a live wire the entirety of her 55 minutes on the field at attacking mid, covering huge amounts of the field, chasing down opposing players and using the ball effectively.
Porter played as a defensive midfielder and was nearly flawless across her 79 minutes, defusing attacks and providing confident passes to other players.
In the second half, Porter and Keogh helped put the game to bed, with the former whipping in a cross and the latter playing a neat header that allowed Allen to sprint and knock a half volley into the far corner in the 75th minute.
After last season’s injury-riddled campaign, Santoro now is in a position where he has plenty of options to choose from, but he isn’t losing sleep over having to bench veteran players.
“When you go through a couple years of change and behind shorthanded … I love every minute of [having depth],” Santoro said. “The players have bought into their roles, and they knew it was going to get like this. They knew year three, year four of this was going to be improvement, and so they knew that stuff was going to happen. They knew players would join the roster, and there would have to be some give and take. And the team’s been great so far. Again, full credit to them for adapting to the changes. I like the group right now.”
The Wolfpack is still a long way away from breaking into the top half of the ACC and still has to win its first ACC game, but with a group of freshmen playing well three games in the season, the return of captain and talisman Jackie Stengel and a number of veterans willing to take less game time, the program seems to be on the right track.
Stengel said the group is taking it one game at a time, and the team is already looking ahead to the next match.
“The next step is to continue to win,” she said. “We have a game on Sunday. We’re away to East Tennessee State. We actually played them my freshman year. They came here, so it’ll be cool to travel there and get our first win on the road this season.”
