Coach George Tarantini walked to his truck in exhaustion following his team’s 1-0 win over Georgia Southern at Method Road Soccer Stadium Wednesday.
Despite battling the flu, Tarantini was his usual animated and vocal self as he coached his team to victory.
“I’ve been sick for like four or five days,” Tarantini said. “But I think my passion takes over my reason.”
Tarantini’s passion, according to senior midfielder El Hadj Cisse, carried over to the players as N.C. State (3-1-1) more than doubled Georgia Southern’s shot attempts in the contest and played with “great energy.”
“That’s the determination we need from everybody,” Cisse said. “Coach being sick, but showing up in the game is what we all need.”
Despite 15 shots in the game, the lone Wolfpack goal came from Cisse at the 29:34 mark in the first half. The goal was assisted by sophomore midfielder Jorge Mora and senior defender Hugh Cronin.
Cronin played much of the game on the attack, as Tarantini looked to adjust the lineup for more scoring opportunities after last Sunday’s lack of offense in a 1-0 loss to Villanova.
Though Cronin said he had not played “in the middle” since high school, he proved effective offensively in the win.
“In our last game against Villanova, we really struggled to get scoring chances,” Cronin said. “We didn’t really have a flow to the attack. I think we just started sending more people forward and trying new combinations, and it seemed to work out today.”
The team will face off against rival UNC-Chapel Hill on Saturday at 4 p.m. at Method Road Soccer Stadium, and Cronin said the win over Georgia Southern (1-4) was necessary in building momentum for the upcoming showdown.
“Whenever you take a loss, you have to get focused and get back on the winning track,” Cronin said. “Carolina is a big game, but we knew we had to get this one under our belt first.”
Tarantini admitted the team could have overlooked Georgia Southern with all the hype that surrounds the Carolina rivalry this weekend.
“It’s hard not to think of Carolina,” Tarantini said. “I mean, it’s the biggest game of the season. We don’t want to just look forward to Carolina and not get ready for this game, but I thought the whole team played pretty well as a whole.”
