NC State
California
Wolfpack Opens Conference Play with Win Over California
9/7/2024 1:01:00 AM | Men's Soccer
RALEIGH, N.C. – On a monumental night for the Atlantic Coast Conference, NC State was placed on the winning side of history with nearly 2,000 fans to witness. NC State men's soccer (3-0-1) defeated California in the Golden Bears' first-ever competition a part of the ACC Friday night 2-1.
Freshman, Nikola Markovic, earned his first start in the red-and-white anchoring the back line as center back alongside Isaac Heffess to provide a crucial wall to lift a win for his team.
The game took off quickly as Hakim Karamoko scored a header in the first minute of the game off of a cross from Liam Bennett, tallying his second goal of the season.
California's Nonso Adimabua retaliated with a goal outside the top of the box off of a failed clear attempt by the Pack in the 40th minute to tie up the score going into halftime.
NC State continued to apply pressure throughout the second half, outshooting the Bears 9-2, and finding numerous extremely close opportunities to score.
With only nine minutes remaining, a corner kick from Taig Healy produced several attack attempts for the Pack, prompting the Bears to repeatedly clear the ball away from their net. Henrique Santos found himself within the top of the box to clean up another failed clear, picking up his first goal of the season and securing the win.
"I think I speak for everyone on the team when I say that we were just looking for that goal and when it finally came, it was just collective happiness throughout" said Santos on scoring the game winning goal.
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