The NC State men’s soccer team fell 4-0 to the UNC-Chapel Hill Tar Heels on Sunday, Oct. 3. With the loss, the Pack’s struggles in conference play continue as the Wolfpack still searches for its first conference win of the season.
The Wolfpack (5-4-1, 0-3-1 ACC) dominated early, coming very close to scoring multiple times before the Tar Heels (6-3-1, 2-2-0 ACC) went direct and grabbed an opener against the run of play.
Filippo Zattarin smashed a perfect diagonal ball out of the back and found Cameron Fisher over the top. UNC’s leading goal scorer made no mistakes after receiving the pass, heading the ball down to put himself out in front of the Wolfpack defender before tucking it around redshirt senior keeper Leon Krapf for the opener.
Prior to the Tar Heels bagging the opener, the Wolfpack had a pair of great scoring opportunities but was kept away from the opener by some great goalkeeping and the linesman’s flag.
Freshman midfielder Noe Cabezas made an excellent run in behind, curving it just slightly to stay onside as one UNC center back drifted behind the rest of the line. In one-on-one with UNC’s Alec Smir, Cabezas tried to slip the ball under the keeper, but the veteran did well to keep it out.
Senior forward Kuda Muskwe managed to put the ball in the back of the net in the 18th minute after an inch-perfect cross from senior forward Ivy Brisma that curved around the entire UNC defense, but the linesman’s flag denied Muskwe his third goal of the season.
NC State struggled to get much going offensively after the break, while UNC took control of the game. The Tar Heels eventually picked up an insurance goal in the 69th minute as Tega Ikoba eventually knocked the ball into the back of the net after a scrappy passage of play by the Heels.
UNC added insult to injury late in the game, adding a pair of additional goals in the final 10 minutes as the Pack pushed to get back into the game.
The Wolfpack will wrap up its three-game road trip on Friday Oct. 8 as it travels up to the Empire State for a showdown with the Syracuse Orange. The game is set to kickoff at 7 p.m. and will be broadcast on the ACC Network.
