NC State Narrowly Falls at No. 17 Clemson

Sunday, October 23

Clemson, SC

1 PM

NC State

9-7-1, 3-5-1ACC

#17 Clemson

12-3-2, 6-1-2ACC

NC State

Clemson

10/23/2016 4:50:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Box Score

CLEMSON, S.C. – NC State nearly earned a big result Sunday afternoon at No. 17 Clemson, but an unfortunate penalty call helped the Tigers to a 2-1 win. NC State moves to 9-7-1 (3-5-1 ACC), while Clemson improves to 12-3-2 (6-1-2 ACC).

NC State dominated time on the ball and was more creative going forward for much of the game. The teams tied each other with nine shots, while the Pack placed four shots on goal, compared to just three from Clemson. A physical Clemson team fouled the Pack 18 times and earned four yellow cards.

Tziarra King scored the Pack's goal for her seventh of the year and the 15^th straight NC State goal from a freshman. It's her second goal in as many matches, as she is up to 15 points on the year.

The match at Clemson concludes the hardest stretch of four ACC matches that any team in the conference has faced this season. The Pack previously played No. 9 Duke, No. 9 Florida State and No. 8 Virginia in its last three matches.

Santoro's Take:
"I believe that we were better today," said head coach Tim Santoro. "We should've been up a player for the majority of the game. I'm disappointed with the second call on the penalty, but we played well. We've played well during a tough stretch of four games. In three of them, we've been really close to getting results, but we'll rebound and get ready for Thursday."

"We just have to play the way we did today and we'll be fine. We've been a really good team over a stretch of games here – except for an off game against Virginia. If we perform like we did today, we'll be ready for a really tough game against Pitt on Thursday."

Match Recap:
The Pack was forced to deal with a come-from-behind situation early in the contest with a Clemson goal in the 13^th minute. NC State responded immediately, as Kia Rankin was through on goal. Clemson's Sam Staab denied Rankin a clear goal scoring opportunity by tripping her on the 18-yard-box line. Staab was only shown a yellow for the foul.

Tough break in the 15th minute that denied a goal-scoring opportunity. pic.twitter.com/G4rEa6ZEgX
— PackWSoccer?? (@PackWSoccer) October 23, 2016

The Pack's finishing touch was just off during the rest of the half, as Ricarda Walking missed a free kick and Kristinia Schuster wasn't able to convert a shot from distance in the 35^th minute. The Pack trailed 1-0 at the half.

NC State ended up on the wrong side of another disputed decision in the 59^th minute via a penalty call from minimal contact. The Tigers converted the penalty to go up 2-0.

In comeback fashion, NC State responded well and poured numbers forward throughout the match, forcing the Clemson defense to hold a deep line in its own territory.

The Pack broke through in the 81^st minute, as Cailyn Boch sent a through ball to King inside the box. The Sicklerville, N.J., native clinically finished the chance to bring the score within a goal.

Sweet goal from @tziarra with a nice set up from @cailynboch. She's up to seven goals this season and has scored in the last two matches. pic.twitter.com/YW65DG5Ptt
— PackWSoccer?? (@PackWSoccer) October 23, 2016

NC State continued to press forward, but was unable to find the back of the net, as the Clemson goalkeeper made three saves and scooped up several dangerous crosses to keep NC State from scoring again.

Up Next:
NC State returns home for a match against Pitt Thursday night at 7 p.m. with a chance to get to 10 overall wins and four ACC wins. It will honor its seniors Gladys Loyas and Rachel Cox before the match.