RALEIGH – NC State freshman Drew Lovelace scored both of his team’s goals in Tuesday night’s non-conference matchup as the Wolfpack (6-5-4) defeated visiting Radford (4-9-2) by a 2-0 score at Dail Soccer Stadium.
NC State extended its point streak to five matches, the best such streak for the squad since its 2018 campaign. It was also the squad’s sixth shutout of the year and the fifth tallied by goalkeeper Lucas Hatsios.
Lovelace notched the first goal of his Wolfpack career in the 35th minute to put his team on the board. He was assisted by fellow rookie Calem Tommy, who worked a ball up to the front left corner of the box before centering it to Lovelace who knocked in the left-footed strike from 12 yards out.
One for the rookie!!
Drew Lovelace gets the first goal of his Wolfpack career in the 35th minute! Assist by fellow freshman Calem Tommy.
Wolfpack 1, Highlanders 0 pic.twitter.com/C1XjATTVQy
— NC State Men’s Soccer (@PackMensSoccer) October 25, 2022
He then added to his night in the 60th minute and secured his brace with an easy tap-in off of passes from Junior Nare and Noe Cabezas.
BRACE for Drew!
Noe ➡️ Junior ➡️ Drew for the 60th minute score!
Wolfpack 2, Radford 0 pic.twitter.com/kgY0JmyLvp
— NC State Men’s Soccer (@PackMensSoccer) October 26, 2022
The Wolfpack set the tone for its attack early, forcing Radford into a pair of saves on back-to-back Luke Hille shots that came less than four minutes into the outing. Those saves were the first of four that Radford was forced into during the first half as the Wolfpack got 10 shots off in the opening period of action.
In total, NC State ended up out-shooting Radford by a 15-4 tally. The Pack’s formidable defense did not give the Highlanders space for a shot attempt until the 49th minute, and none of Radford’s strikes were on target. The Wolfpack, meanwhile, hit a season high in shot attempts with 15 on the night and tied its season best for shots on target with seven.
NC State will hit the road for its regular-season finale at Clemson. The teams will square off at Historic Riggs Field on Friday, Oct. 28, with the match set for a 7 p.m. start on ACCNX.
#GoPack | @PackMensSoccer
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at NC State University Athletics…