Wolfpack starting goalkeeper Sydney Little doesn’t let the past bother her. It was a lesson taught to her by a goalkeeper coach when she was just a youngster learning the finer points of playing between the pipes.

Little remembers her coach’s drill: after a goal, pick up a piece of grass and think about it for a second. Then, let it go, and in the same way she would let go of the goal that was just scored and move on.

Picking up and letting go of that blade of grass was what she learned to do when the ball slipped by her in youth league games. Now, she doesn’t perform the ritual, but she keeps the same mindset and has passed it on to help fellow teammates.

“You have to know that it happened and it’s in the past,” Little said. “Next time, though, you’ll make the save.”

Little’s mentality is one of the biggest things she has passed on to help teammates. One of those teammates is highly-touted freshman goalkeeper Rachel Barnette, who says despite being in direct competition with Little for the starting job, the two help improve each other’s games and have become friends.

“If I mess up or get mad, she will tell me to calm down and work harder so I can try it again,” Barnette said. “She keeps me settled. It helps me because instead of getting frustrated and quit working, I’ll focus on what I need to work on and get better.”

Barnette also described herself and Little as having a team-first mentality as to who will be on the playing field.

“We are a unit. Whoever is playing better will play,” Barnette said. “Whoever will give the team the best chance to win will be out there. There’s no jealousy out there — we just want the team to win.”

Opponents this year have only slipped five goals past the sophomore, Little, in her first year as the Pack’s starting net-minder, and she boasts a 0.91 goals against average on the year. As a freshman last year, Little served as a back-up, but still did not allow a goal in 110 minutes of playing time.

In her second year on campus, she has kept up the stellar play — only once has an opponent scored more than once in a game against Little. Little has not only found uses for her blade of grass philosophy on the soccer field, but has also transitioned it into other aspects of life.

One such instance happened in the summer of 2005 while she was surfing outside of her parents’ beach house in North Myrtle Beach. As the soon-to-be senior at Southeast Raleigh High School was surfing in, she wiped out in waist-deep water and was bitten by a shark.

Little originally thought her board had cut her during the crash and did not even know that she had been a victim of a shark until a week after the incident. While getting her leg checked out after the accident, a plastic surgeon discovered teeth marks running around her leg and informed her that the injuries were due to a shark and not her surfboard.

The shark bite ran all the way down to her bone in her upper right leg, and she said approximately 400 stitches were required to fix it.

Little’s sensory nerves were severed, and she lost feeling in her upper right leg, but other than that, it’s in the past and hasn’t deterred her from taking part in her favorite beach activity.

“Now, [surfing] is nothing,” she said. “I don’t think about it. It’s in the past. I’m over it. Besides, the likelihood that I’ll get bit twice is so slim — they’ve already marked me.”

Anyone who thought the shark incident would keep Little from surfing, or joking about the incident, doesn’t know her that well.

Determination, hard work and a constant smile on her face were qualities that those involved with N.C. State soccer have found to be synonymous with their goalkeeper from Garner.

The injury caused her to miss the majority of her summer league and club season before her senior year, but she had already committed to coach Laura Kerrigan’s Pack and was back in time to start every one of the Southeast’s games for her fourth consecutive year, en route to earning another all-state nod.

Kerrigan admitted that when she first heard about the accident she was worried for her future goalkeeper’s well-being and safety. Once she heard that Little was OK, though, she was not worried about Little getting back on the field and getting back in shape. Kerrigan knew her goalkeeper’s motivation would be enough to get her on the field as soon as possible.

And she was right: Little was only off the soccer field for two months.

Before the accident, Little had already been a two-time all-state selection and grew up cheering for State. Being recruited and signing to play for the Pack was a dream come true for the girl who grew up playing on the hills at Carter-Finley Stadium during football games.

Growing up in the shadow of the Bell Tower and having an entire family of State fans had taken its toll on Little long before Kerrigan had even come calling.

“When I was little, other girls were dreaming about playing for UNC. I always dreamed about playing for N.C. State,” she says. “[My dream] wasn’t just playing college soccer; it’s always been about playing college soccer at N.C. State.”

She still calls just being a part of the Wolfpack soccer program one of her greatest accomplishments on the soccer field.

Little has been a calming force for the youthful Pack. The defense in front of Little is made up largely of players still in their first year of playing defense on the college level. Sophomore Katie Ruiz is the only returnee that began last season as a defender for the Pack. Everyone else has switched from a different position or was still in high school when last season began.

Yet, the Pack has only allowed six goals this entire year, and three were to William & Mary, a squad ranked in the country’s top 30. Kerrigan sees Little, whom she described as never being satisfied and always improving, as a perfect goalkeeper.

“The goalkeeper has to be a general on the field,” Kerrigan said. “By the nature of the position, you also have to be a leader. There’s a lot of responsibilities on the keeper’s shoulders, and you have to be able to handle that.”

Little described her affair with the goalkeeper position as love at first sight when she first tried stopping shots as a 12-year-old. “From the second I got into goal, I loved it,” she said. “Goalie is a position where you play it for that one great save. Everything else is picking up the rollers coming to you, easy stuff. Then you’ll just have one amazing save. and it will get you pumped. That’s why you play [the position].”

The girl who has attended Wolfpack soccer camps for as long as she can remember is living the dream, and those around her can tell.

“She loves her life and she loves this game,” Barnette said.