The NC State women’s soccer team suffered a heartbreaking 2-1 loss to the No. 10 South Carolina Gamecocks in the team’s home-opener on Sunday, August 29 at Dail Soccer Stadium.
The Wolfpack (1-1-2) scored the first goal and was in a 1-1 tie for almost the entirety of the second half, but the Gamecocks (3-0) snuck in a goal in the final minute to get the win.
“We didn’t have enough quality from our main players, and we didn’t have enough quality from our bench.” said head coach Tim Santoro. “We’re a good team, and we need to win these games. We just need our better players to be better in these kind of games.”
The Pack struck early as sophomore forward Jameese Joseph took the ball down the sideline and scored on a shot taken just inside the penalty area to put the Pack up 1-0 after just one minute. The goal was Joseph’s third in four games to start the season.
“[Freshman defender Brianna Weber] passed the ball to me like before at midfield, and then I megged the girl, and then I just kept thinking about just going to the goal, and then I found an opening and I shot it.” Joseph said.
The Gamecocks then struck back with a goal of their own with just over 20 minutes left in the first half to tie the score 1-1, and the score remained so for the rest of the half.
The score remained in a tie for well into the second half, but with just under a minute left, the Gamecocks scored again to go up 2-1. The Gamecocks ended up outshooting the Pack 12-5.
“It was really unlucky at the end.” Joseph said. “I feel like we had a better chance of finishing it, but we just weren’t great around the final third of the box.”
The Pack has now played two matches against ranked teams, the other being a 1-1 draw against No. 9 Georgetown. While the Pack surely would like to win those matches, it is evident that the Pack is not far off from being able to do just that.
“We’re close,” Santoro said. “I like what our young ones are doing, but we need a little more from our older players on a consistent basis, and we’ll win these games. It’s early, and I’m confident once we get that full lineup intact we’ll be fine.”
Next up, the Pack travels to take on UNC-Greensboro on Thursday, September 2. The match will begin at 7 p.m.
