MIAMI – Goal! Goal!

As kicker Stephen Hauschka’s 42-yard, game-winning field goal sailed into the netting behind the goalposts, the former soccer player took off running down the opposite side of the field, helmet raised above his head.

It looked more like a World Cup celebration as players swarmed Hauschka and a few put their hero on their shoulders as N.C. State toppled Miami in the Orange Bowl, 19-16 for its third consecutive win.

“Getting picked up on their shoulders was pretty awesome. It was definitely pretty exciting and I’ll never forget it,” Hauschka said. “It’s going to be hard to come down from this one.”

Hauschka’s four field goals, all coming in the fourth quarter and overtime, were a career high. Hauschka said he had “jitters” when he missed a 29-yarder in the second quarter of the contest, his first miss of the year.

After Miami took the 13-7 lead in the third quarter, the next three State drives all ended in Hauschka field goals and State took its first lead of the game with six minutes left in the fourth quarter, 16-13.

“My focus for the last kicks that I had was just to slow down because everything happens a lot faster on the field than it does in practice,” Hauschka said.

After the Pack took the lead, Miami ran the ball 15 consecutive times on the following drive until being forced to pass with no timeouts and less than 30 seconds on the clock.

“We were looking for them to come out passing,” defensive end Willie Young said. “That’s the only thing that threw us off. That’s what set them up. That and poor tackling.”

Quarterback Kirby Freeman failed to find Sam Shields in the end zone on either of his two attempts, and the team settled for a field goal. Kicker Daren Daly hit a 27-yarder that tied the game 16-16 with 19 seconds left in the fourth quarter.

“You have to give Miami credit — they took the ball over the last six minutes and ran it down the field,” coach Tom O’Brien said. “We hung in there, got into overtime.”

State won the toss at the start of the overtime period, and chose to go on defense first. The Canes ran the ball eight more times — totaling 60 carries on the day.

All game long, Miami was reluctant to pass for good reason, Freeman completed more passes to State, three, than his own team — one.

The Pack defense buckled down as the Canes got closer to the end zone, and Daly came out for another 27-yarder. This time, to the shock of the homecoming crowd, it went wide left.

State ran three plays and brought out Hauschka for his first game-winning attempt of his career.

“I was just happy to be in that situation. I’ve never had a chance to win a game like that with a kick,” Hauschka said. “I was really excited to have that opportunity, especially [because] the other kicker looked like an idiot.”

Hauschka was playing Division III soccer at Middlebury College five years ago. Hauschka hadn’t even played football until his sophomore year at the small Vermont college.

“I’ve had penalty kicks before but that was just in front of a few parents and I was probably 12 years old. I don’t think that can even compare,” Hauschka said.

“I wasn’t thinking about how exciting it would be to win the game. I wasn’t thinking about the crowd or how excited N.C. State fans would be. My main focus was just on relaxing and swinging smooth when I was out there.”

State (4-5 2-3 ACC) now needs two wins in the remaining three games to become two words that nobody was talking about after the 1-5 start: bowl eligible. For Hauschka and the rest of the Pack, it’s been a wild season.

“It’s quite a ride. It’s not over yet,” Hauschka said. “But coach O’Brien said it best, to be happy but never satisfied.”