North Carolina State University Athletics
Looking to Change Fortunes (9/15/08)
9/15/2008 12:00:00 AM | Pack Athletics
6-9-3.
That was the record for NC State soccer in 2007. Our mantra heading into this season has been: change is the only way to improve.
So, from the first day of preseason practice, there has been a positive presence around the team. For a solid week we practiced twice a day. Not everyone was sure he could make it through our arduous workouts. By the end of the first day everyone was dead tired but we had to wake up early the next morning and do it all over again.
This, we all knew, was the commitment we had to make if we wanted to bring about change.
Each day everyone fights for starting spots, which wasn't always the case last year. We are
much more competitive this year and that makes each of us better.
Our season opener was an anticlimactic day. A huge crowd was hyped up to play under the lights at the new NC State Soccer Stadium, but thunderstorms put a damper on those plans. We ended up playing our inaugural game the next afternoon in 90-degree weather.
We played well but drew the game 1-1, a very disappointing start.
Last week, we played in the Duke Classic and suffered two disappointing losses, 3-0 to American and 3-1 to Harvard. But every athlete knows there are positive aspects in a game, even if the result is negative. We out-shot each opponent but could not find the back of the net and, for the majority of the time, we played well together.
This past week was a important week for us as we prepared for Friday's game against North Carolina. If you are from around this area you understand the intense rivalry. And if not, you quickly will learn. The past two meetings each team has won away from home so we hoped to keep that trend going as we traveled to Chapel Hill for Friday's game.
As a team we played the best we have all season. Unfortunately, it was not good enough to come out with a victory. We played well the first half and had great intensity and went into halftime with a 1-0 lead. Looking back on the second half all I can think about is all the free kicks Carolina had in our half. We defended fairly well but they tied the game and won a few minutes into overtime.
As frustrating as it is to have a record of 0-3-1, we are still optimistic and look forward to finally having a home game under the lights. This week's game is a must win and it would be great to have the new stadium packed again Tuesday
night as we take on VMI.
