For junior midfielder Kristina Argiroff and the rest of her fellow upperclassmen teammates, earning respect for a program that hasn’t recorded a winning season since 2002 has been a case of year-by-year progress. Due in part to the the early breakout performances from several freshmen, the Kill Devil Hills native said there is a definite optimism in the air that this team will be the one to finally break through.    “I think this is our year,” Argiroff said. “We should be able to do it this year. We’re starting to change our vision and we’re starting to realize what we can do.”   Despite being on a team that has had freshmen account for 27 of the 75 points on the season, Argiroff may be the biggest surprise considering she had never started a game in her collegiate career until the junior worked her way up to the opportunity this year. Four goals, four assists, and 27 shots later, the midfielder has established herself as a top scorer for coach Steve Springthorpe’s squad. Argiroff said the competitive and open style the former Fresno State coach has implemented is one of the most prominent factors in her success.    “I loved it when he first came in because I was pretty much told that I wasn’t going to start my freshman year,” Argiroff said. “When he came in, he brought this whole new vision. Every practice you battle for a spot, and there’s never a set starting team. Nobody’s comfortable and it makes us better.”    After picking up just two conference victories in the previous three seasons, the Wolfpack (7-5, 1-2) knows its chance to prove that the culture change since Springthorpe’s arrival will produce victories is rapidly approaching.    In Argiroff’s four year high school career, winning was more of an expectation. She led the First Flight Nighthawks with 28 goals her senior year while capturing a fourth consecutive conference championship with a 22-2 record. Argiroff said she is starting to notice the winning mentality she learned as the captain of her high school soccer and basketball teams being adopted at N.C. State.    “In high school, we knew we were going to win,” Argiroff said. “I felt like when I came here that the team was better, but we weren’t winning. Because we had a losing record, I think we had to sit back and make sure the other team didn’t score. Now we know we’re good enough to play defense and push past them. It’s starting to feel more like what I felt in high school.”    Argiroff and the Pack travel to Winston-Salem Thursday to take Wake Forest at 7 p.m.