CARY — Ten members of the N.C. State soccer team kneeled. Each put one knee on the ground. Left arm locked with the teammate beside.
It was as if they had been in this position before, and in some ways, they had. Several times in recent memory, the Wolfpack had pushed No. 2 North Carolina (13-2-3) to the brink. And now, in the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament — in penalty kicks, no less — the 10 stared blankly ahead.
When NCSU defender Tyler Lassiter calmly knocked in the first penalty kick, none of the remaining nine showed any emotion.
Sure, they were linking arms to actually keep from freezing in the cold November air. But it seemed more like a routine. They weren’t going to let the moment or UNC get to them this time. They expected to win. And minutes later, they did, 0-0 (4-1 PKs).
“I’m on an emotional high, to be honest,” Wolfpack defender Chandler Knox said. “Both my parents went to Carolina, and that’s a game that always gets me really excited. They’re an excellent team. We were prepared. We were excited. We were ready to rock ’n’ roll.”
N.C. State coach George Tarantini told his players before the game that things would be different this time.
But with the game pushed to an earlier kickoff due to rain, a sloppy, physical game ensued. No. 20 N.C. State (12-5-2) found itself creating golden opportunities — just like recent clashes with UNC — but no one could finish.
NCSU forward Ronnie Bouemboue missed just wide less than 30 minutes into the match. Knox pushed a header badly past a nearly wide-open net early in the second half.
By overtime, Knox could only cringe and bite his jersey after another missed opportunity — this time when he hit the crossbar from the right side of the 18-yard box.
“The last shot I took was halfway a cross, halfway a shot,” he said. “I got kind of lucky (that it hit the crossbar).”
But not lucky enough.
Two overtimes couldn’t decide a winner, so the teams went to penalty kicks.
As the N.C. State players walked to midfield, the team huddled and grabbed each others’ shoulders. Then they sent Lassiter on his way to take the first penalty kick.
He walked forward and met UNC keeper Brooks Haggerty at the penalty spot. Haggerty held the ball in his hands, grin fully on his face. Even in such a tense situation, the moment didn’t appear to be giving Haggerty any nerves.
But Haggerty didn’t block the attempt. Nor did he block any of the following three. His grin faded.
His counterpart, NCSU goalkeeper Chris Widman, saved his smile for after the win. The senior missed a penalty attempt from UNC midfielder Michael Farfan. But then he blocked attempts from Kirk Urso and Billy Schuler. And for good measure, Widman even smashed in N.C. State’s third penalty kick.
“I think we have one of the premier goalkeepers in the country,” Tarantini said. “I thought Chris carried us the second stretch of the season.”
So it was fitting that Widman’s play was the reason that N.C. State stormed the field against UNC for only the second time since 1997.
“Carolina is really a great team,” Widman said. “We’ve played some tough games with them, come out on the wrong end a few times recently. It was great to finally win.”
Men’s Soccer
N.C. State 0
UNC 0
N.C. State wins in Penalty kicks 4-1
Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.
