Although competitive matches don’t begin for a little more than a week, the NC State men’s soccer team is already engaged in preseason play and takes on Elon at Dail Stadium tonight at 7 p.m.

The Wolfpack began the preseason with a 2-1 loss to Campbell in Buies Creek during the weekend, but the score itself hardly acts as a predictor for the team’s future, according to head coach Kelly Findley.  

“I don’t really care about our result in preseason; I care about our process,” Findley said. “We made a couple mistakes, and we need to clean those up.”

The NC State team dominated and controlled play with patient possession, as the Campbell squad sat deep in its own half and looked to counter attack; but it was that strategy that troubled a virtually brand new Wolfpack defense. The Camels’ sophomore forward Bradley Farias’ combination of pace and dribbling ability created two first-half goals against the run of play.

“It was a really good challenge for us,” Findley said. “When a team sits that deep and asks you to break them down, you have to be really sharp with the ball, and the few times we weren’t the kid who was conference player of the year broke that down for us.”

Both of the Wolfpack’s center backs who started the season in 2014, Clement Simonin and Conor Donovan, are now playing professionally in Major League Soccer, while both players who featured at right back, Ryan Metts and Matt Ingram, graduated.

Against the Camels, Findley experimented with a number of players at the back. Right midfielder Travis Wannemuehler moved to right back at the start, a position he featured in at the end of the spring season, and German signing Simon Blotko partnered with senior Reed Norton, who played everywhere from left back to center forward in 2014, in central defense. Sophomore Caleb Duvernay, who earned a starting spot last year, continued at left back.

With so many players shuffling into new positions, the defense will take time to gel. However, there’s no certainty this same group ends up starting in a few weeks, especially as sophomore Matias Fracchia, who started about half of last season as a replacement for the injured Simonin, recovers from a broken metatarsal.

Findley got a good look at his defensive options in the second half, with freshman Aidan Wixted, a natural right back who also featured in the middle, standing out as a composed and strong presence despite his lack of collegiate experience.

Phil Carmon, back again as a graduate student, also looked explosive and dangerous from right back, despite having not played the position in his collegiate career.

“It’s good to be back out here with these guys,” Carmon said. “We played some good soccer, and I even played a new position at right back … I think we all played pretty well but were unfortunate to get the loss.”

Offensively, the Pack features a tremendously young but talented group. Freshman CJay Sparks and sophomore Ade Taiwo are both former Gatorade Player of the Year winners for their high school careers. Sophomore Ryan Peterson was an integral rotation piece last year and started against Campbell, while former Carolina Rapids Academy standout Tanner Roberts scored the Pack’s only goal of the night.

The freshman from Charlotte enrolled in January, and that exposure helped him immensely, he said.

“The speed of play going from academy to [college] is completely different,” Roberts said. “While I only played in the first two games [in the spring] it definitely helped a lot.”

Roberts’ goal was a well-taken header off a corner kick played in by another freshman who looks set to play a big role this season, attacking midfielder Tyler Gabarra.

“It feels great, just knowing all the training we’ve done,” said Gabarra after his first collegiate game. “Just to be here and play against somebody that’s not on our team is a great feeling.”

With a young offense and restructured defense needing time to find cohesion, the Pack should depend on a sturdy and deep midfield that features captain Holden Fender, junior Yanni Hachem and a trio of sophomores with excellent pedigree in Zach Knudson, Cameron Steele and Nick Retzlaff.

Tonight’s Elon match gives these players and head coach Findley another opportunity to ready themselves for what promises to be another tough ACC season.