The No. 23 ranked Pack is ready to get its first ACC win of the season against the University of Maryland Terapins Saturday at Dail Soccer Stadium.
This will be no small task, as the Terps are the defending ACC and College Cup champions and are currently ranked No. 4 in the nation.
Maryland holds a record of 4-1 and 1-0 in the ACC. The team will go into this game with momentum, as it is coming off a 7-0 win this past Tuesday over Duquesne, which was highlighted by a hat trick by sophomore Casey Townsend. Townsend was named to the All-ACC tournament team last year.
This means defense will be critical in the game plan for the Pack and redshirt senior goalkeeper Christopher Widman, who ranked third in the ACC in saves per game at 3.50 in 2008, will need to have a big game.
“[We are] excited — it’s a challenge,” Widman said. “We lost a close game to them last year [2-1], and they went on to be national champions. So we’re excited to have another shot at them.”
N.C. State played its last game on Wednesday night against the Campbell University Camels. In that game, the team’s own offensive prowess was on display in the form of five goals.
The team feels that this win will be an excellent source of confidence going into its next contest against Maryland.
“Whenever you get a win, you definitely have more confidence going into the next game. We know we did what we needed to do tonight, and hopefully it will carry on to the next game,” midfielder Chris Zuerner said.
The team also believes that familiarity will be its main advantage going into this game, as the Pack faces this ACC opponent every year.
“We’ll go over some of their film and mentally prepare and physically prepare on the field,” Zuerner said. “[Maryland is] one of those opponents that we play every year, it’s always a hard fought battle. We’re ready to see if we can come out there with a win.”
Zuerner said even though the Pack is 0-1 in ACC play after dropping its first game to UNC, the team is ready to prove its worth in this conference.
“After that loss, we were obviously disappointed, but we had to focus on the next game,” Zuerner said. “We won’t let the Carolina game affect [any] of the other games, and we’ll be ready for Maryland,” Zuerner said.
Widman said the Pack can draw on the close match against Carolina for inspiration.
“We lost to Carolina, but we felt like we had a chance to beat them,” Widman said. “The game in the middle of the week between [playing last year’s] national runner-up and the national champion is always a tough game. I think we did well and we got through Campbell. We’re definitely ready to take on Maryland.”
