NC State women’s soccer dominated the Oklahoma Sooners in the first game of a pair of neutral site games held in Charlottesville, Virginia from Sept. 9 to Sept. 12.
The Pack (4-1-2) handily defeated the Sooners (3-3-1) in 5-0 fashion as NC State showed its class in front of goal and on the defensive side of the ball.
After a contentious but goalless opening 30 minutes, the Wolfpack was able to break the deadlock and find the back of the net first. The Pack took the lead after a Sooner corner kick was cleared to sophomore forward Jameese Joseph. The leading scorer for the Pack carried the ball nearly 60 yards from the opposite end of the field, leading a brilliantly executed counter attack. Joseph laid the ball off to redshirt junior Lulu Guttenberger who had to simply touch the ball to sophomore midfielder Jaiden Thomas. Thomas slowed down and placed the ball deliberately past the Sooner goalkeeper to put her side in front.
After the opening goal, the Wolfpack seemed to find its footing and continued to pile on the pressure.
Only six minutes later, the Wolfpack doubled its lead. In the 38th minute, freshman defender Cara Elmendorf made a strong tackle to dispossess a Sooner defender on the edge of their area. She then brought the ball inside the 18-yard box and fired a powerful shot into the bottom right corner for her first goal of the season.
The second half found the Wolfpack picking up right where it left off and adding to its lead only 8 minutes into the half. The Pack found the back of the net this time off of a corner kick. The Pack sent the ball short and Gutenberger whipped it to the six-yard box. As the Sooner keeper came out to meet the shot, the ball got by the Sooners’ defense and bounced into the back of the net.
The Pack wasted no time after that third goal and continued to attack as the Sooners scrambled for answers to the dynamic offensive display.
In the 57th minute, the Pack managed to extend its lead further via a fantastic outside-the-box strike from freshman midfielder Emika Kawagishi. Kawagishi was able to bag her first career goal after a mishandled shot by the Sooner keeper fell to her feet. Kawagishi struck the ball into a virtually empty net as the offensive onslaught continued for the Pack.
The two sides went back and forth but the contest was essentially over after that fourth goal, and the Wolfpack looked to carry possession and keep a clean sheet.
Finally, in the 89th minute, the Wolfpack put the exclamation mark on the match, when Guttenberger found the back of the net for the second time this game. After a foul on the edge of the area by Sooner midfielder Sakura Yoshida, Guttenberger lined up for the freekick and sent it flying past the keeper into the top right corner.
Guttenberger certainly showed her class, finishing the match with an assist and two great goals.
The Wolfpack was able to put on a brilliant display of attacking prowess combined with defensive awareness as it managed a total of eight shots on goal and seven total corners. The Sooners managed the same amount of shots total with nine but in the end, but only had three on goal, all of which hardly challenged freshman goalkeeper Maria Echezarreta who finished the contest with three saves.
The Pack will look to carry this momentum into its next match against No. 11 Penn State on Sept. 12 at 3 p.m.
