The NC State men’s soccer team made it through about half of its Wednesday night exhibition match against Elon before a mounting storm cell caused play to be suspended. The teams were level at 0-0 apiece when the game stopped and was subsequently halted for the night.
The Wolfpack and the Phoenix will restart play tonight at 7 p.m. at Dail Soccer Stadium. The game’s format is different than the regular season, with three 30-minute periods making up the 90 minutes rather than two 45-minute halves.
Tonight’s match will start from the beginning and will not continue from when play ended on Wednesday, as the teams did not make it to the 70th minute of play.
Last night, NC State head coach Kelly Findley fielded a changed lineup from the group that started the Pack’s 2-1 loss to Campbell last Saturday.
German freshman defender Simon Blotko moved from center back to right back, while junior Travis Wannemuehler started on the bench. Senior captain Holden Fender moved from defensive midfielder to center back, starting alongside fellow senior Reed Norton in the heart of the defense.
In midfield, sophomore Cameron Steele moved into the defensive midfielder spot, while juniors Yanni Hachem and Julius Duchscherer played on the sides of the diamond shape. Sophomore Zach Knudson played at the point.
Findley also completely rotated his strikers. Freshman Tanner Roberts, who scored the Wolfpack’s only goal against Campbell, started alongside graduate student Phil Carmon, who looked lively in his second-half cameo on Saturday.
Whether the same lineup takes the pitch tonight should indicate how informed the Pack’s head coach feels with the group that got roughly 45 minutes of game time.