NC State women’s soccer closes out its regular-season home slate Thursday night with a Senior Night matchup against Syracuse, and the evening will belong as much to the nine honored seniors as to the game itself.
The Wolfpack will recognize Ellie Breech, Yuna Aoki, Erica Roberts, Rosalie Olou, Carly Montgomery, Mary Frances Symmes, Mackenzie Smith and Sophia Hernandez before warmups begin. The ceremony is set for 4:50 p.m., with kickoff scheduled for 6 p.m. at Raleigh, N.C. Admission to both the match and the ceremony is free, and the game will air on ACCNX.
There’s plenty at stake for NC State beyond the celebration. A victory would give Gary Higgins his 15th as head coach at NC State and his 125th career win.
It would also be the program’s 417th all-time victory, its sixth against Syracuse, and the Pack’s 10th win of the season. On top of that, NC State would pick up its third ACC win and finish with its most wins in a season since 2019.
NC State comes in off a frustrating night in its last outing, a 1-0 loss to Pitt on Thursday, Oct. 8, at Dail Soccer Stadium. The Wolfpack was shut out for the first time this season.
The first half stayed scoreless, though NC State held a 6-3 edge in shots before the break. Fien Leijdekker appeared to have given the Pack the lead on a breakaway, but the goal was waved off for offside.
Pitt finally broke through in the 67th minute on a goal from Desiree Reed, and NC State’s late pressure came up short despite chances from Erica Roberts and Carly Montgomery.
Thursday’s meeting will be the 10th in the series between NC State and Syracuse, with the Wolfpack holding a 5-2-2 edge. The teams played to a 1-1 draw in 2024, when Mana Nakata recorded an assist for NC State. In their last matchup in Raleigh, the Wolfpack beat Syracuse 2-0 in 2023.
Syracuse enters at 4-7-2 overall and 1-5-0 in ACC play. The Orange picked up their first conference win on Sept. 24, beating Pitt 2-1, but have since dropped matches to No.
15 Virginia and No. 8 Stanford.
Head coach Nicky Thrasher Adams is in her eighth season leading the program, while associate head coach Brian Dunleavy and assistant coach and goalkeeper coach Michele Barletta are both in their first season with Syracuse.
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What makes the snub even more interesting is how it lines up with the buzz around McNeil heading into the new season. There has been steady talk that his offseason work has taken his game to another level, which only raises the stakes for NC State if he carries that momentum into the fall. For a player who already had a convincing statistical argument, the question now is whether he turns an overlooked preseason spot into a much bigger postseason conversation. [Read more 🡒]