Wolfpack Set for Final Road Test of Regular Season at Louisville

Friday, October 22

Louisville, Ky.

7 PM

NC State

Louisville

Wolfpack Set for Final Road Test of Regular Season at Louisville

10/21/2021 12:07:00 PM | Men's Soccer

MATCH NOTES | LIVE STATS | WATCH LIVE

RALEIGH – NC State men's soccer (6-6-2, 0-4-2 ACC) begins its final week of the regular season with a Friday road match at Louisville (9-5, 4-2 ACC). The match kicks off at 7 p.m. from Dr. Mark & Cindy Lynn Stadium in Louisville, Ky., and it will be aired live on ACCNX.

A WIN FRIDAY WOULD
• Be the 538th win in program history (537-469-104)
• Be the 199th win in head coach George Kiefer's career (198-1120-67)
• Be Kiefer's 37th victory at NC State (36-34-16)
• Be Kiefer's 10th ACC victory with the Wolfpack (9-22-11)

SERIES HISTORY (NC State leads 4-2-2)
• Friday marks the ninth overall meeting between NC State and Louisville.
• NC State last faced Louisville on March 4 of last season, and the Cardinals came away with the 3-0 win in that game played in Raleigh. Prior to last season, the Pack had not lost to the Cardinals since the 2016 campaign.
• NC State has never lost to Louisville on the road. In the three previously-played matches on the Cardinals' home field, the Pack has compiled a 2-0-1 record. All three of those matches have occurred from 2015 on.
• All four of NC State's wins in the series between the two teams have been by one goal. Their first two matchups were both decided in overtime.

LAST TIME OUT
• NC State put together a valiant effort and dominated the stat sheet in Tuesday night's match against William & Mary but ultimately came up just short to the Tribe, 1-0.
• The Pack possessed the ball for 68 percent of the outing and out-shot the Tribe 24-4 but was unable to find the back of the net.
• William & Mary goalkeeper Connor Andrews made eight saves on each one of the Pack's shots on target.
• The Tribe's first shot of the game led to the game-winning goal. In the 55th minute, Diba Nwegbo fired a shot that went off the lower left post, and Nathan Messer was the fastest to the loose ball which he put away into the roof of the goal.

TRACKING THE PACK (6-6-2, 0-4-2 ACC)
• The Pack's 186 shot attempts have been distributed among 17 different players, led by 31 strikes from Kuda Muskwe.
• Muskwe is ranked in a tie for 10th in the ACC with his 2.21 shots per game
• Eleven different players have found the back of the net in 2021, with Luke Hille and Muskwe's four goals apiece pacing the team.
• Jamie Smith has scored all three of his goals this year on free kicks. His two-goal game against JMU on Sept. 14 marked the first time in the Kiefer era that more than one goal has been tallied by a single defender in a game.
• NC State is tied for second in the league with three players with at least one multi-goal game this season. Only UNC has had more players tally a multi-goal game in 2021.
• Leon Krapf is ranked fifth in the league in total saves (36, 2.57 per game) and sixth in save percentage (.679).
• NC State has held four of its opponents scoreless this season and held another five to just a single score.

STRENGTH IN THE PACK
The depth and versatility of NC State's 2021 squad has been on full display this season. The Pack has gone with a different starting lineup in each of its 14 games, and a total of 25 players (23 field players, 2 goalkeepers) have seen time on the field this year. Fifteen of those players have tallied either a goal or an assist this season, and eight have put together multi-point performances (stipulation of more than one goal in a game).

UP NEXT
NC State returns home on Oct. 29 for its regular-season finale against Boston College. The match is set for a 7 p.m. start from Dail Soccer Stadium in Raleigh, and the Wolfpack will celebrate the careers of 12 members of the senior class.

#GoPack | @PackMensSoccer