After an incredible second-place finish at Regionals, the women’s club soccer team is on their way to the NIRSA National Soccer Championship in Foley, Alabama. The women earned their bid along with 23 other teams to go and compete in this five-day tournament. This is fascinating news as it is the first time the women have qualified for nationals in four years. However, before the women can go and get ready for Nationals, they must first face Chapel Hills B team.
The two in-state rivals met today on Upper Method Field at 11:00 AM. The Wolfpack women came into this game with a record of 10-3-4, while the Carolina B team had a record of 4-2. The game had no implications on Nationals, but it was still an intense game as they fought for bragging rights in the rivalry.
The game started off to a slow start as neither side could really develop an offense and score. Both defenses stood firm for a good proportion of the game and were very aggressive for both teams. This aggression led to an early injury in the game as on the 14th minute #14 Carmen Pyrtle took a hard hit to the knee from Carolina girl #24 Cori May. Pyrtle stayed down for a few minutes but seemed to be okay as she was helped off by teammates.
In the final minutes of the first half, we would finally see our first goal as #26 Mia Ziade for Chapel Hill scored a goal in the 37th minute. Both teams sat and recuperated after a strong defensive first half as they tried to look for answers on offense. In the first half, NC State was only able to get four shots on goal and Carolina only three shots on goal. However, both teams would improve on this stat in the second half. The second goal came in the 5th minute of the second half as it was scored by #34 Chelsea Vickers for Chapel Hill.
The Wolfpack tried to look for offensive answers throughout the game by subbing in frequently to try and take advantage of Carolinas weak bench and by can frequently communicating throughout the game. Despite there strong efforts and willingness to win it was not enough as the Wolfpack ran out of time and fell short to Chapel Hill.
The Wolfpack women now head to Nationals where they can hopefully get their revenge on Chapel Hill and come out victorious.