In the battle for the final position in the quarterfinals of the ACC men’s soccer tournament, N.C. State defeated Virginia Tech 1-0 at the Fetzer Field in Chapel Hill, in a rematch of the fixture at the same stage last year.

Having qualified as the number eight and nine seeds for the tournament, it was a must-win game for both N.C. State (7-10-2) and Virginia Tech (4-13-2) as a loss would mean an end of the season for both teams but in the end it was the Pack who triumphed in a closely fought game that saw as little as seven shots in the first half.

First-year coach Kelly Findley, whose team also beat Virginia Tech during the regular season, admitted that playing the Hokies earlier helped them get a better understanding of how the game could turn out to be coming in the fixture.

“Virginia Tech is a very direct team and we talked about not giving them any starts,” Findley said. “We got to be able to do both things well, defend well and attack well and you can’t give up one for the another and I thought the difference today was that the guys did a good job of doing both really well. We just got what we deserved in the