The NC State club hockey team fell just short of an ACCHL championship this weekend, losing to top-seeded Virginia 5-1 in the final game of the tournament.
The Wolfpack (14-11-1, 7-4-1 ACCHL) finished the regular season in third place of the Carolina division of the ACCHL behind Wake Forest and UNC-Charlotte and earned a spot in the ACCHL Tournament as the No. 5 seed.
In the opening game of the tourney, State topped fourth-seeded UNCC 5-2. Junior Sam Banasiewicz, who had two goals during the night, kick-started the Pack. Sophomore Tyler Alfonzetti, senior Reed Farhat and sophomore Ryan Kinney also found the back of the net in the thrashing of the 49ers.
State came out with another dominating performance in its semi-final matchup, topping third-seeded George Washington, 6-2. Banasiewicz got the scoring started for the Pack, followed by goals from senior Luis Gimenez, Ryan Lenzmeier, Kinney, junior Will Biberdorf and Eric Johnston.
Gimenez opened up the scoring against Virginia in the final, but the Cavaliers answered with five straight goals to end State’s season with a loss. The defeat in the finals marked the sixth straight year State has failed to win the tournament.
The regular season for State was a tale of streaky performances. The Pack started the season off strong, winning five of its first six games. This streak started off with a bang, as State beat Duke 8-1 to start off its conference slate with a 1-0 record. The Pack moved on to a 4-0 shutout over Elon and a 6-3 loss to non-conference College of New Jersey.
The next three games saw State jump to 4-0 in conference play with a 5-3 victory over George Washington, an 8-5 win over Navy and a tight 7-6 defeat of UNCW. All three of these victories took place at Raleigh Iceplex for State, which finished the season with a 5-5 record on home ice.
State’s strong start quickly faded, as the Pack hit a major downfall in the middle of the season, going on a seven-game winless streak. A 4-3 nonconference loss to Maryland started the skid and was followed by defeats to ACCHL opponents Georgetown and Wake Forest.
After a 2-2 tie to UNCC, State went on another three-game losing streak, dropping games to Virginia Tech, UNC-Chapel Hill and Duke. The Pack was outscored 17-6 in these three games, with the second two losses coming at home.
The season turned around for the Pack following the 3-2 loss against Duke, as State broke out of its losing skid with an 8-7 shoot-out win over Louisville. The Pack found some redemption in the next game, beating Virginia Tech 8-4 on the road to make up for its 8-2 loss versus the Hokies earlier in the year. After a 15-1 loss against Liberty, State topped UNCC and Clemson at home. This was followed by a 4-1 loss at Wake Forest.
State continued its late-season hot stretch with perhaps its highlight of the season, a 3-1 victory over rival UNC in front of a sizeable and loud crowd in PNC Arena. The Pack and the Tar Heels battled throughout the game, but State broke through on a game-winner from Banasiewicz with 2:28 left on the clock.
The regular season ended for the Wolfpack with a 4-3 overtime victory on the road against UNCW and a tightly-contested 5-4 home loss to Elon.
State had won the previous four ACCHL regular season titles coming into this year, but finished fifth in the league this season. Despite this, the season was far from a failure for the Pack team that battled through an abysmal dry spell in the middle of the season to finish strong.
