All but eliminated from ACC Tournament contention, NC State women’s soccer fell at home 3-1 to No. 7 Duke.
NC State (5-8-4, 4-3-2 ACC) hosted the Blue Devils (11-3-1, 6-3-0 ACC) in a high-stakes matchup for its final home game of the regular season. The story of the night was the red card given to senior defender Alex Mohr in the 13th minute. The Wolfpack were then forced to play a player down for the rest of the match.
Five minutes later, NC State junior forward Jade Bordeleau fell in the opponent’s box as she dueled for the ball; however, after review, the referee decided not to award her a penalty.
“Obviously, devastating start going down to 10 players,” said head coach Gary Higgins. “I need to look at it back whether it’s a red card. I don’t know, but I also think there was one that potentially could’ve went for one of their players and didn’t get it.”
The Blue Devils pressured the defense throughout the whole game, shooting 25 times, including 19 shots on goal. NC State’s backline resisted but couldn’t clear the ball away properly and suffered a new attack as soon as they had stopped one.
Duke’s first goal of the evening came in the 42nd minute from a header that found the bottom left corner of the net to beat senior goalkeeper Olivia Pratapas, who recorded 16 saves in the match. The Wolfpack ended the half down by one.
With only 10 players on the field, NC State found a way to score six minutes into the second half. The goal came from a corner kick that Bordeleau headed in, assisted by sophomore midfielder Mana Nakata. This equalizer shifted the momentum in NC State’s favor, but only eight seconds later, the Blue Devils scored from outside the restricted area to take the lead back. Duke erased any doubt on the outcome of the game by scoring a third goal in the 60th minute.
Despite the disappointing loss, the Pack was playing for something bigger. It was the annual pink game for NC State’s women’s soccer as the Wolfpack took the field in pink kits in honor of breast cancer awareness month.
“I think it is pretty symbolic. The adversity we had to face tonight, and you just go and keep running and pushing through was very symbolic,” Higgins said. “I’m so proud of the girls to keep on fighting because this is their platform to pay respect to those people that have been through those struggles before.”
NC State will travel to Chapel Hill for the final game of the regular season on Thursday, Oct. 30, to take on No. 22 North Carolina at 8 p.m.
