The N.C. State women’s club soccer team fell to ECU 1-0 at the upper intramural fields Sunday. The game was the first and final home game of the Wolfpack’s fall season. It was also the final fall home game for the seniors Logan Corley, Lizzie Sodoma, Ashley Upchurch, Aly Mitchell, Sam Walker and Jordan Saylor. The loss to the Pirates brought the Pack’s overall record to 4-6-3. Corley, the team’s community service chair, co-captain and player-coach, has high hopes for the club team’s future.
“This club team will do great,” said Corley. “We have a freshman class that kicks ass. I mean, they do. We’re so glad we have them. They’re going to lead their team into the future and I feel completely confident that they are going to be a good team.”
Freshman forward Michelle Fidelia showed why her senior teammates are excited about the future, scoring an early goal that was disallowed for offside.
But a lack of ball control and difficulty getting shots on target kept the Pack scoreless.
”We started to panic in our possession and everything was rushed,” Corley said. “We really didn’t put the ball on the ground and control it. We were taking plenty of shots but we just couldn’t get any on frame. It’s why you come to play, though, because nothing’s guaranteed.”
According to Mitchell, games between the Pack and in-state rival ECU seem to always turn into a heated battle.
”We have a history,” Mitchell said. “It’s always a really physical game. We played [ECU] at the Virginia Tech tournament this past year in October and we actually beat them 1-0. It was really epic. In the last five minutes we got a corner kick and scored it on them. There was kind of a spat/fight in the box. Right now we’re tied as far as wins and losses against ECU for the season.”
According to Corley, many of ECU’s players are former varsity women’s soccer team members, and competing against girls with such experience makes already competitive games all the more intense.
“A lot of their team players came down from their varsity team and now play for club,” said Corley. “I don’t know if it was if they didn’t like their coach or was just some sort of coaching dispute. So they wanted to come down and play at a more relaxed level.”
With the fall season behind it, the team is looking forward to resuming play with tryouts and tournaments early next semester.
“We have tryouts in the spring,” Corley said. “We also have the Clemson tournament in the spring, which is one of the largest club tournaments that we can participate in. We’d love to have some new faces come out and join us.”