No. 26 NC State men’s soccer team opened up the season with a 2-1 victory against No. 6 UNC-Chapel Hill at its exhibition game in Chapel Hill on Sunday night. 

The first half was rather uneventful in terms of goals with the Wolfpack’s offense unable to get around the Tar Heels’ defense. And the Tar Heels’ had one critical attempt at a goal 10 minutes before halftime. UNC’s junior forward Taff Wadda managed to fire a shot but it struck the crossbar. It was a close call and even after a video assistance review, the Heels remained scoreless.

Last season, the Wolfpack had struggled to win games outside of its home turf at Dail Soccer Field, having only won two of its nine away games.

Returning to the field with the score still 0-0, the Wolfpack gathered itself and made an attack a few minutes into the second half, as junior defender David Norris scored the first goal of the night.

The Pack took the momentum and built on it with senior forward Tyler Gabarra being fouled in the box given the away team a pen. Junior midfielder David Lorea took the penalty shot and put the Pack up 2-0 just four minutes after the Pack’s first goal.

Loera scored the Wolfpack’s lone against the Tar Heels in last year’s meeting which saw the Wolfpack shock the Heels who were ranked no. 1 in the country at the time.

In the final minutes of the game, NC State fouled UNC in the box allowing junior forward Santiago Herrera to bring the game back within one from the penalty spot.

Had Wadda scored his chance in the first half, the game could have ended very differently, but the Wolfpack were able to grab momentum after the half and run with it, securing the squad’s first win of the year.

The Wolfpack’s next game will kickoff against VCU at Dail Soccer Field this Saturday at 7 p.m. before entering its official season.