WINSTON-SALEM — The men’s soccer team is still winless in ACC play after a 4-0 defeat at No. 2 Wake Forest on Saturday.
The Wolfpack had to play a man down for 40 minutes of the second half after junior defender Stanley Mathurin received his second yellow card and had to leave the game.
“It’s very hard to play with 10 guys, but we can’t use any excuses,” coach George Tarantini said. “They played better and deserved to win, but I disagree that there is a four-goal difference between us and Wake Forest.”
The loss was tougher to swallow for the Wolfpack, according to Tarantini, because it was dominated in all aspects of the game.
“It’s very hard because I think this team is better than this. It really is,” he said.
Tarantini said the loss was particularly hard for Hugh Cronin, a senior defender from Winston-Salem, who was playing against his brother, Wake junior midfielder Sam Cronin.
“It’s really different when you play against your brother. It adds a little more to the game, but I look at it as another big ACC match,” Cronin said. “We were really trying to get on the winning track because we have lost a couple now. We had a really good week at practice, and we were really excited and up for the game. But Wake Forest is a tough team, and it just didn’t go our way tonight.”
The Deacons scored two goals in each half and out-shot State 14-6 overall. Cronin said his team didn’t capitalize on open opportunities and Wake did, which contributed to the 4-0 blowout.
“We made some mistakes early, and then we got the red card and were down a man. That’s always tough,” he said. “We had some chances. We just didn’t capitalize on them, and they did. That’s just part of the game.”
Barry Cronin, Hugh and Sam’s father, said psychologically, the red card in the second half deflated State. He said the Pack had to play a perfect second half to come back, and the red card disrupted all hopes early on.
“I think the better team won, but there’s still half a season to go, and we will wait and see what happens,” Barry Cronin said.
“Wake is rated No. 1 or No. 2 in the country, and they showed it tonight. They are a dangerous team, and they possess it well. I think that’s what State aspires to become. It just doesn’t happen overnight.”
Tarantini echoed the idea that the team has a lot to build on for the future, but right now the biggest issue is going back and figuring out what it has to do to win games. The coach said the team has to learn from its mistakes and get prepared for the rest of the season.
“The ACC championship is still our goal, and I tell [the team] I still believe in them with all of my heart,” Tarantini said.
Despite the final score, Laurie Cronin, the Cronin brothers’ mother, said wins and losses don’t matter to her.
“As long as they come out brothers, shaking hands or giving each other a hug, it’s a good game,” she said.
