The women’s soccer team was unable to hold onto a two goal lead on senior day Sunday afternoon as No. 6 Florida State scored five second half goals to take down N.C. State in the team’s final match of the season. 

The match was the last in the collegiate careers of seniors Lindsay Vera and Tami Krzeszweski. The two were honored before the game, which meant nothing to State’s postseason, though Vera said the team came out fighting.

“Since today was senior day everybody was pretty pumped,” Vera said. “And knowing we had no pressure going into this game everyone was up and ready to play. It was our last game and we were willing to leave it all on the field.” 

State used that energy to take an early lead when a corner kick came right to Vera in the box. Vera then showed the skill that has made her the Pack’s leading scorer for the past two seasons, rifling a turn-around shot into the corner.

Early in the second half, State tallied another marker when freshman forward Paige Dugal stole the ball in the box for an easy tap in goal. 

But right after that score, Florida State’s Katrin Schmidt received a great lead ball and beat freshman goalkeeper Kim Kern on a one-on-one to cut the Pack’s lead to one goal.

Then, with 29:18 to play, head referee Alex Sorondo called a questionable foul in the box which led to a Sarah Wagenfuhr penalty kick goal.

The Pack never recovered from the letdown of that goal, and later the same referee called a foul right outside the box which led to score off of a free kick.

“It’s just a tragedy that the referee’s penalty kick call decided this game, and then another call at the top of the box,” coach Laura Kerrigan said. “It’s a tragedy that a game like this we fought so hard on comes down to two calls by the referee.”

After the game, Krzeszweski would refer to the penalty kick call as “shocking.”

Calls against the Pack were not limited to just those two, however, as State players received five yellow cards, including one on Kerrigan for arguing with a referee’s calls.

“It should tell you something that we’ve never gotten that many yellow cards.” Kerrigan said.”And for that many yellow cards to be issued for dissent, for arguing with the referee about calls, that should tell you something. Almost every single [yellow card] was for a referee’s call that we questioned.”

 ”It’s just such a shame that this victory was taken away from us, because we deserved it. We played very, very well.”

Though the controversial calls were clearly on the players’ minds, afterwards State knew the team had left it all on the field.

“Nobody gave up until the final whistle.” Vera said. “And whether we won or we lost, we played great. I don’t care if it says it was a losing score. We won in our minds.”

Vera and Krzeszweski leave behind a program they have changed dramatically, including leading the team to a 7-0 start before multiple injuries occurred.

“We had a changing of the culture. Over the spring we transformed into a team that holds each other accountable and is willing to put that extra effort out,” Krzeszweski said.

Kerrigan said she is proud of how the seniors impacted this team.

“I can’t say enough about the leadership we had this year and how this team turned around,” she said, “I could not be more proud of the way this team played, and I think the leadership of Tami Krzeszweski and Lindsey Vera had so much to do with that.”