#12 Wolfpack Visits Pittsburgh Tuesday Evening

September 24, 2018

Match Notes | Live Stats | Watch Live

RALEIGH – The 12th-ranked NC State men's soccer team (6-1-0, 1-1-0 ACC) continues Atlantic Coast Conference play on Tuesday evening when it visits Pittsburgh. Kickoff between the Wolfpack and Panthers is scheduled for 7 pm from Ambrose Urbanic Field with live video coverage provided by ACC Network Extra.

A WIN ON TUESDAY WOULD...
-Be the 516th win in program history (515-442-92).
-Be the 177th win in HC George Kiefer's career (176-93-55).
-Be Kiefer's 15th win at NC State (14-7-4).
-Be NC State's second road win of the season (1-1-0).
-Be NC State's fourth win over Pittsburgh (3-1-1).

SCOUTING THE PANTHERS (3-4-0, 0-2-0)
-All four losses have been by one goal each and have come against ranked opponents.
-Common opponent: lost 1-0 at Akron on Sept. 1.
-Outscoring opponents 10-6 this season and outshooting them 74-61.
-No. 9 Edward Kizza has scored five of the team's 10 goals.
-Tuesday's match begins a five-match home stand for the Panthers.

SERIES HISTORY (NC State leads 3-1-1)
-Last meeting was a 3-0 Wolfpack victory in Raleigh during the 2016 season.
-Last meeting in Pittsburgh was a 1-1 draw during the 2014 season.

BALANCED SCORING AND FIRST CAREER GOALS
NC State's 11 goals this season have come from nine different players. Newcomer Gabriel Machado leads the team with three, all of which are match winners.

STEADY IN GOAL
Sophomore goalkeeper Leon Krapf is in the second season of a very strong college career. The German international has played every minute of 25 matches and has recorded 11 shutouts and 61 saves while allowing only 25 goals. His current goals against average (GAA) this season is 0.70. If he were to keep that up for the rest of the year, it would break the previous best season in program history (Christopher Widman's 0.88 in 2009).

On Sept. 24, he was named the ACC Defensive Player of the Week after making three saves in a shutout victory over No. 14 Virginia Tech.

NATIONAL TEAM OF THE WEEK
Senior defender Simon Blotko was named to the College Soccer News National Team of the Week Sept. 24 after assisting on the match-winning goal vs. No. 14 Virginia Tech Sept. 21.

WINS OVER THE BEST
NC State has won four matches against foes ranked within the top-14 of the United Soccer Coaches rankings since the beginning of the 2017 season.

Sept. 8, 2017 vs. No. 3 Clemson: W, 1-0
Oct. 21, 2017 at No. 5 Louisville: W, 3-2
Aug. 27, 2018 at No. 4 Akron: W, 2-0
Sept. 21, 2018 vs. No. 14 Virginia Tech: W, 1-0

QUALITY CHANCES
NC State is leading its opponents in total shots (74-62) this season and holds a significant edge in shots on goal (39-23). The Wolfpack has scored 11 of its 39 shots (.282) on frame so far this year.

#GoPack | @PackMensSoccer

Players Mentioned

Simon Blotko

Leon Krapf

Gabriel Machado

Related Videos