The No. 18 men’s soccer team reached a more favorable outcome against No. 8 ACC Rival Duke on the road, completing a 1-0 upset in double overtime Friday night.
Senior Ronnie Bouemboue put in the game-winner with 49 seconds left in the game to bring the Pack to 2-2-1 in the ACC and 8-2-1 overall. The goal, Bouemboue’s ACC-leading sixth of the season, sent his teammates into hysterics.
“We went crazy. I took my shirt off and ran to the stands, and all my teammates started jumping on me,” Bouemboue said.
This was the second year in a row State beat Duke in Durham, though the Blue Devils were ten spots lower in the rankings at game time in 2008.
Neither team gained an advantage through 90 minutes, though it was not for lack of trying. Both teams hit the crossbar several times. Duke held a 11-10 edge in shots and forced Pack goalie Chris Widman to turn away three attempts.
“The game was very intense from the beginning,” Bouemboue said. “Both games really brought the energy out [Friday.] It did go to a dramatic finish, but speaking for my teammates, we all just stayed focused and relied on our fitness to keep our legs moving.”
Coach George Tarantini said assistant coach Chris Popik did an “excellent job getting ready.”
“We got a good result. We were working extremely hard to get more organized and the defense played terrific.
In the extra period, right back junior Lucas Carpenter took the ball from the Pack’s half of the field and dribbled down the right sideline. Carpenter eyed a Bouemboue, who had a defender on his tail, and fed him the ball at his feet. Bouemboue one-timed the shot past Duke goalkeeper James Belshaw.
Bouemboue called the play “crazy” and said it developed quickly, but it came as a result of a tried-and-true, simple play the team has worked on in practice all year.
The Pack pushed the game into overtime as it has several times this season, including in a game against top-10 ranked Maryland that resulted in a tie. Bouemboue said State was not anxious to achieve the same result.
“It was definitely reminiscent of several games where we tied, but in this game, we had a bit of an extra push in a sense that we didn’t want a tie,” Bouemboue said. “No matter what, we didn’t want a tie. Win or lose, we wanted a decision, and luckily it turned out in our favor.”
Both Bouemboue and Tarantini said the win will give the Pack confidence as it finishes out conference play, as it has seen it can compete with upper-tier teams. However, Tarantini says they cannot afford to look too far into the future.
“It’s a very fine line between success and failure,” Tarantini said. “That fine line, to me, is preparation, repetition, humility, and being ready to do anything it takes. We cannot lose focus and we have a long season to go. Before we talk about being contenders, we have to focus on Tuesday.”
The Pack will take to Dail Soccer Field at 7 p.m. Tuesday to take on Georgia Southern before returning to ACC play Saturday against Wake Forest.
