The NC State men’s soccer team fell to the No. 2 Clemson Tigers 2-0 in the team’s ACC opener on Friday, Sept. 10 at Dail Soccer Field.

The Wolfpack (3-2, 0-1 ACC) had a few good looks and opportunities, but ultimately could not convert those into goals, while the Tigers (5-0, 1-0 ACC) did.

“I think at times we were good,” said head coach George Kiefer. “I thought at times we created some pretty good chances… I think Clemson’s good enough to score really good goals, but I don’t know that they scored really good goals tonight. I walk away a little bitter in that I don’t know that they earned their goals, but they’re a good team and they got them.”

Within the first 10 minutes, the Tigers put up a trio of shots in a span of just over a minute, but they were kept off the board as redshirt senior goalkeeper Leon Krapf tallied his first two saves of the night, including a nice diving save on the third shot attempt.

With just over ten minutes left in the half, the Tigers struck first after having a shot saved by Krapf, who was unable to get up in time as the Tigers scored on the ricochet to go up 1-0.

The Pack had a couple of scoring opportunities near the end of the first half as senior forward Kuda Muskwe had his header saved and junior defender Pablo Pedregosa’s header went over the top of the goal. The teams went into halftime with the Tigers up 1-0.

The Pack had some more missed scoring opportunities in the second half with back-to-back shots by freshman forward Henrique Santos and Muskwe, both of which came up empty, and couldn’t capitalize off a free kick that resulted from a yellow card being issued to the Tigers.

With just under 20 minutes left, the Tigers scored again to go up 2-0, a lead that turned out to be insurmountable.

Both teams had exactly the same number of shots with 13, as well as saves with six and fouls with 13. Despite the loss, the Pack isn’t hanging its head too low after playing competitively with the No. 2 team in the country.

“If you look at it realistically, we played on the same level with one of the top teams in the country,” Krapf said. “I don’t think they were two goals better than us. Obviously, the loss really hurts because we were really feeling we could get something away from them tonight, but we have to focus on the positives.”

Playing against the No. 2 team in the country and the defending ACC Champion is one way to start the ACC season, and the Pack now knows how it stacks up against one of the best of the best.

“I think we still have work to do,” Kiefer said. “I told the guys, you can’t get too high, you can’t get too low. … To create four or five good looks on one of the best teams in the country shows you there’s some progress.”

Next up, the Pack hosts James Madison on Tuesday, Sept. 14 at 7 p.m.