State orchestrated a weekend sweep of Pittsburgh (2-3) and Loyola-MD (1-4) en route to clinching a winning record for its season-opening six-game homestand. Through six games, the Pack has not allowed a single first half goal, while outscoring opponents 22-4. Friday night, N.C. State held the Pittsburgh Panthers to just five shots in a 4-0 victory at Dail Soccer Stadium. Ariela Schreibeis, Kara Blosser, Tanya Cain, and Jennie Krauser scored second half goals following a defensive first half of play that only saw three shots between both teams. Schreibeis, a freshman from Laramie, Wyoming, broke the scoreless tie in the 58th minute with an unassisted tally. It would only take 5:07 for State to pick up two more goals, both coming from experienced points leaders from a year ago. Cain, a junior forward from Pinebluff, is one of those leaders who the Wolfpack counted on a season ago. After contributing 11 points and finishing 2009 as her team’s third leading points getter, Cain said she felt relieved to finally break through for her first goal of 2010. “I can’t remember the last time I scored in-season,” Cain said. “It feels like it was this time last year. Hopefully it’s one of many.” Cain became the 10th different goal scorer for the Pack this season, which is a contrast from last year’s squad, which finished its campaign with just eight different players finding the net. “We’re playing a lot of different formations,” Cain said. “We have more offensive people this year and I think we are just hungrier for the goals.” Along with a Blosser header that found the back of the net just moments before Cain scored, star freshman Jennie Krauser also got on the board in the 86th minute to make it 4-0. The win over a quality Big East opponent gave the Pack plenty of momentum heading into Sunday’s afternoon contest. And it didn’t take very much time for State to take control against the Loyola Greyhounds, as Cain scored her second goal in as many games just 9:40 into the contest. Kristina Argiroff piled on by scoring her third and fourth markers of the season on a pair of Krauser assists. But for State, the afternoon belonged to Nadia Aboulhosn, who closed out the 6-0 victory with three goals scored in a span of less than seven minutes. “It felt really great,” Aboulhosn said. “I felt like I was in a rut and I still need to improve, but it gave me a boost. Everybody set me up perfect for all of them.” With the team set to travel to Greenville to take on the ECU Pirates Friday, Aboulhosn said the team’s talented group of freshmen will look up to the upperclassmen. “They make it so easy,” Alboulhosn said. “They’ve all contributed immediately already and all we have to do is keep encouraging them. We just need to keep going, keep everybody going with this momentum we have and I think we can continue to do a lot of things if we are able to stay consistent.” Despite a successful opening to the season, coach Springthorpe said he understands how difficult it is to take a young team on the road and continue the momentum. “That’s the bad part about playing your first six games at home,” Springthorpe said. “Now you have to go on the road and you haven’t experienced that before. We have a lot of freshmen, and we’ll see how we handle it. It’ll be something new and different for a lot of the players on our team.” For Springthorpe, last year’s 2-5-1 road record was a disappointment that will hopefully be corrected in his second year. “We have to win when we go on the road,” Springthorpe said. “If we don’t win, the record just isn’t going to match what we want it to be and what our goals are.” State will head back home to face Florida International following the team’s trip to ECU. The start time against the Golden Panthers is set for 1 p.m. from Dail Soccer Stadium. WHAT DAY?
Pack finishes off home-stand in style
September 5, 2010