Behind sophomore Tziarra King’s stellar two-goal performance, the NC State women’s soccer team defeated East Carolina 2-1 at Dail Soccer Stadium Thursday night.
Playing its third contest in just six days, the Wolfpack improved to 5-1-0 on the season while East Carolina (4-1-1) dropped its first match of the year.
“We won the game against an undefeated team so that’s the positive,” head coach Tim Santoro said. “I just think we looked like we were a little tired and we’ve got to regroup for another game in three days.”
After pressuring the ECU defense to open the match, King was able to notch her first goal of the game, assisted by junior Taylor Porter and sophomore Paige Griffiths. Porter received the ball outside the box and promptly passed it to Griffiths, who then placed a pass to the left side of the 6-yard box to King as she sent it past the Pirate goalkeeper to put the Pack up 1-0 in the 21st minute. The goal was King’s fourth on the year.
In the 35th minute, ECU evened the score at 1-1. Pirate forward Chentay Warnes received a pass from Ashley Kendrot, putting a goal past the hands of Wolfpack goalkeeper Grayson Cameron.
The Pack held possession for much of the first half despite aggressive defense from East Carolina. NC State got off six shots and one corner, while the Pirates were held to just two shots in the first half.
The Wolfpack managed to pull ahead in the 57th minute on another score from King. Junior Maxine Blackwood sent the ball just inside the box to King, who shot it across to the right side of the goal past the diving East Carolina keeper. The goal, which was King’s fifth of the season, put the Pack ahead 2-1.
“I feel like playing any close team is always a tough rivalry,” King said. “I just came out here with a lot of extra energy tonight.”
The second half was more of the same for NC State, as the team managed to hold possession for a majority of the period. The Pirates had several threats, but recorded just one shot to NC State’s five. The Pack logged five corner kicks in the second half and six overall while ECU earned just one for the match.
“We’re confident,” Santoro said. “We feel we’ve been playing well all season, even when we lost to Princeton there were a lot of good things so we feel like we’re in a good spot and on-target for conference play.”
The score held at 2-1 as the Pack picked up its second win in a row while also winning five of six to open the season.
The Wolfpack will take on Davidson Sunday, Sept. 10 at Dail Soccer Stadium in its final match before conference play starts. State’s first ACC match will take place Wednesday, Sept. 13, also at Dail Soccer Stadium.
