Wolfpack Edged by Terrapins, 2-1

Aug. 31, 2014

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The NC State women's soccer team concluded its first road trip of the season with a hard-fought 2-1 loss at Maryland Sunday evening.

Sunday's match was delayed 115 minutes due to severe weather in the College Park area. Scheduled for 6 p.m., the contest eventually began at 7:55 p.m.

With the Wolfpack trailing 1-0, freshman Kayla Saager scored the second goal of her young career to pull the match level in the 48th minute. State then fell behind in the 52nd minute following a Terrapin corner kick and despite an intense late offensive effort which included a goal scored by Brittany Stanko that was called back for offside, the Pack fell just short at Ludwig Field.

"I'm very proud of this performance but disappointed with the loss," said head coach Tim Santoro. "I thought we were really competitive tonight. That's what we were looking for, was to be competitive after Friday's match. We achieved that. By the second half, I felt as though we were the better team and gave ourselves a chance to win.

"Hopefully we can build off that and what we saw today can be our consistent performance."

Maryland delivered the breakthrough in the 37th minute to take a 1-0 advantage. A loose ball in the penalty area was pounced upon by Natasha Ntone-Kouo, who was able to poke it past the scrambling State defense to give the hosts a first-half lead.

The Pack (1-3-0) stepped up its pressure over the latter stages of the first half, possessing the ball for sustained amounts of time and pinning the Terrapins (2-2-0) back in their own defensive end of the field. State recorded three shots over the course of the final five minutes of the opening half.

NC State carried this momentum over into the second half, equalizing the match in the 48th minute when Saager found the back of the net for the second time this season. Capping off a nice spell of possession, junior Jenna Kalwa whipped a nice ball in from the left wing to her teammate. Saager took one touch 12 yards out and finished to the far post to pull the sides level.

"We had confidence (to start the second half) because we were the better team at the end of the first half," Santoro added. "I think the women realized that they belonged on the field and could compete with the opponent.

"We made a little tactical change and adjusted our formation a little bit, but just from the body language and the attitudes walking out of the locker room, I knew we were going to be ready to play (to start the second half)."

On another corner kick in the 52nd minute, Maryland took a 2-1 advantage when Aubrey Baker was able to capitalize on a loose ball in the defensive area.

State amped up its pressure to an even higher level, recording four total shots in the final 12 minutes of the match. The closest chance came when Stanko was played in on goal and beat the goalkeeper in the 90th minute, but an offside flag by the linesman negated the effort.

With eight seconds remaining, Saager attempted a hopeful shot from 25 yards away which sailed narrowly over the frame of the goal.

NC State will return to Raleigh for its next match, a Sept. 4 contest against Coastal Carolina. The Wolfpack and Chanticleers will kick off from Dail Soccer Field at 7 p.m.

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Team Stats

Kayla Saager

Jenna Kalwa

Dayna Tomayko

Brittany Stanko