NC State men’s soccer built to face the ACC gauntlet in 2022

NC State men’s soccer is ramping up for the start of another season under head coach George Kiefer, looking to face the ACC gauntlet of collegiate soccer programs on top of an out-of-conference schedule that shouldn’t be scoffed at.

After finishing last year’s fall slate at 7-8-2 (1-5-2 ACC), with the final matchup of the season ending in a 1-0 loss to Notre Dame in the ACC tournament, Kiefer and company have had plenty of time to step back and reassess their needs for the upcoming year. From new faces on the coaching staff to a slew of promising young talent ready to leave their mark, things are trending upwards for Wolfpack men’s soccer.

Competing alongside some of the country’s best men’s soccer programs in the ACC provides NC State with a daunting challenge year after year, and by comparison, that challenge has proved to be a bigger bite than the Pack can chew in the past couple of seasons. Pairing that never-ending battle of conference play with losses of a few critical pieces for NC State on the pitch does leave a few questions unanswered despite the upward trend.

It’s just the nature of college athletics to see cornerstone players ship out for greener pastures after their eligibility runs dry or better opportunities for life after college sports present themselves. NC State saw no exception to the losses that every program faces when it had to say goodbye to longtime shot-stopper Leon Krapf, a program-defining goalkeeper who ranks second in Wolfpack men’s soccer history in shutouts and tops the all-time list in goals against average at 1.11 over the course of his career.

In addition to losing Krapf, NC State said goodbye to forward Ivy Brisma, who was selected by CF Montréal in the 2022 MLS SuperDraft, along with his attacking counterpart Kuda Muskwe. The additional losses don’t end with the attacking third either, losing key veteran leadership across the entire pitch including midfielder Alex Hernandez and defender Pepe Garcia amongst others. 

As can be heard anytime teams at any level face player turnover, it’s all about the next man up. NC State has excelled at bringing in electric players in recent years, namely sophomore midfielder Luke Hille, who always seemed to find the back of the net in his freshman campaign, and graduate transfer midfielder Conor Kelly, who has experience in the postseason with two separate trips to the NCAA Sweet 16 in his time with Duke.

To help mitigate the loss of Krapf and provide a fresh outlook on the coaching staff, Kiefer also elected to bring in Michal Gorszczaryk to serve as an assistant coach. In his time as a volunteer assistant coach at Florida Gulf Coast, Gorszczaryk excelled with his keeper, Gustavo Vasconcelos, who was honored as the ASUN Goalkeeper of the Year for the past two seasons. FGCU also saw its share of team success with Gorszczaryk on staff, earning top-three finishes in both the spring and fall seasons of 2021.

Even with new members on the coaching staff and a solid recruiting class, the aforementioned challenge remains the same; win men’s soccer games in the ACC. With a fall schedule including games such as Louisville and UNC in Raleigh and even tougher games against Wake Forest and Clemson on hostile grounds, it’ll take more than preseason hype to make a statement. Kiefer’s 2022 squad is built for the challenge, but rising up to meet it is a story that will have to unfold over the course of the year. 

The team’s first opportunity to set expectations comes in its season-opening exhibition matchup against Queens University on Sunday, Aug. 14 at Dail Soccer Field in Raleigh. The game against Queens, followed by another exhibition against Coastal Carolina on Saturday, Aug. 20, are the only opportunities for NC State to gain some footing before opening up the season with a home game against Loyola-Maryland on Friday, Aug. 26. 

Kickoff for the Pack’s first exhibition of the fall is set for 7 p.m., and live updates during the matchup, as well as post-match coverage, can be found on @TechSports on Twitter.