Pack women’s soccer falls in Sweet 16

Tyler Stocum, Correspondent • November 19, 2018

Junior midfielder Tziarra King shoots and scores off an assist from senior defender Hannah Keogh in the 82nd minute to tie the game. The Wolfpack were forced to play down a player for 48 minutes of the 110 game after senior defender Ella Bonner was booked in the 63rd minute. No. 21 would come away with the tie against No. 15 Duke on Thursday, Sept. 27, 2019 in Dail soccer stadium.

The NC State women’s soccer team’s season came to an end Sunday night in Los Angeles against the second-seeded UCLA Bruins in a 5-0 defeat.

This was the Pack’s second appearance in the third round in the past three years. Sunday night was the first time the Wolfpack (11-7-4) and Bruins (17-3-1) met in the history of their programs.

UCLA showed that it was the better team right from the start. The Bruins wasted no time getting on the board with a goal from Jessie Fleming in the sixth minute when she received a pass in the box from Ashley Sanchez and fired home a shot for a 1-0 lead.

It took only 16 minutes after her first goal for Fleming to score her second goal of the night off of a corner kick. The Bruins would show their strength of scoring off of set pieces the entire match as they would collect two more goals off of corners later in the match.

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The Pack struggled to control the ball and move it into the offensive zone. UCLA’s defense held the Pack without a shot until the 34th minute, while the Bruins had already taken 12. It wasn’t until freshman midfielder Anna Toohey took a shot that went wide right of the net that the Wolfpack was able to get some offense going.

Junior midfielder Tziarra King took two shots, including one that the Bruins goalkeeper Teagan Micah made a great save on to keep it a 2-0 UCLA advantage.

However, with the Pack not able to finish one of its shots the Bruins took advantage as they scored their third goal in the 42nd minute from defensive back Karina Rodriguez off of a corner kick. This gave UCLA a 3-0 lead heading into halftime and a 15-3 shot advantage over the Pack.

Play got underway in the second half with three straight saves from senior goalkeeper Sydney Wooten, a Southern California native.

In the 83rd minute, Castaneda scored her second goal of the match off of a Wolfpack turnover. It took only two minutes and 10 seconds later for the Bruins to score their fifth goal of the night and finish out the Pack.

Wooten registered nine saves on the night, as the Pack was out shot by the Bruins 26-5.

With the loss, the Wolfpack’s season comes to a close, finishing with an 11-7-4 record and another third-round finish.